Evening visit to Ito

Today was a great day - no guests at the hotel for the first time in 10 days. So we could  finish work at 3 o'clock and do some RnR! We decided to take the opportunity to do a bit of tourist, and drive down to nearby Ito in Captain's car (which I was rather familiar with by now, thanks to having done some chauffeuring with it).

Ito is one of the biggest towns (the biggest?) on the Izu peninsula. Izu peninsula is very famous for its Onsen (natural hot springs), which are very popular in Japan. Based on a sign we saw in town, Ito is supposed to be one of the three top towns in Japan for Onsen. The main tourist attraction in Ito is a historic Ryokan (Japanese Inn) called Tokaikan, which has been opened to the public.

So it was natural that our exploration of Ito should begin there. Entrance was free, but we were initially a bit put off by the fact that explanations were in Japanese only (unfortunately quite common in Japan). So, we didn't undestand much about the exhibits displayed around the Ryokan. But that didn't detract from our enjoyment, as the building itself is very impressive, with absolutely beautiful traditional Japanese guest rooms, all very neat and tidy. We've spent a few times at Ryokans, but never a place that feels as "venerable" as this.

There was also a nice view to be had from the top of the Ryokan over Ito. The location of the Ryokan is perfect, by a river crossing the town center.

There isn't all that much to see in Ito apart from the Ryokan, actually, at least not in the town center. Ito is your average mid-sized modern Japanese town (which means it's not particularly beautiful architecturally speaking). Anyway, it was time to eat, so we started looking out for a restaurant. Ito was surprisingly quiet, but we eventually found a nice-seeming restaurant (where they even had English language menus), where we decided to take our chances. Good choice, too. I had a bonito set meal which was excellent (particularly the soup stage of the meal where the waitress poured in soup broth into my rice & bonito bowl). Mathilde had Aji (horse mackerel). Oishikatta desu!

And then, it was time to head back to the hotel - after a rather nice evening trip!