Blogmas Day 03: Shurijo Castle and Kinjo-cho Stone Path
Shurijo Castle
If you have an aversion to panoramic pictures then my blog may not be to your taste. I took LOADS of panoramic images - I should probably invest in 360 cam.
The brilliant weather continued for our trip to Shurijo Castle. We took the monorail to Shuri station and then it's roughly a 15 minute walk to the main gate to the castle - Shureimon 守礼門
There are some spectacular views of Naha from the castle.
Once you enter through the Houshinmon Gate 奉神門, the gate to the paid area of the Castle, there is a suggested route to the right, which takes you through the interior of the castle. NOTE: you have to take your shoes off once you get inside.
Make sure to explore the park surrounding the castle too. We ran out of time to fully look at everything plus the sun was scorching! Might be best to walk around this place on a cloudy day if you are not acclimatized to a blazing sun.
Kinjo-cho Stone Path 金城町石畳道
We had other plans for the afternoon after the Castle visit however I knew I had to walk the Kinjo-cho Stone Path during my time in Okinawa, so we did the walk the next morning but I'd recommend it after or before a visit to the Castle in a holiday itinerary as the path is right next to the Castle park.
It's only a half hour leisurely walk (one way) and we started from the top end, the castle end, which meant we were walking down the incline. There is a wonderful restaurant at the bottom of the path, which I'll talk about in tomorrows post, but you could start at the bottom and walk up the path too because at the end of the day you need to walk back up it in order to get the Monorail station, unless you grab a taxi! I suppose, it was a good work out back up that hill in the blistering heat, plus it gave us another chance to wander around the streets and houses around there! :D
