Goryokaku Tower and Hakodate Walk

Every once in a while, I forgo public transportation and move on foot – this time a pleasant walk around Hakodate. The 107 m high Goryokaku Tower makes for a great starting point, with its pentagonal, minimalist presence at the southern edge of the Goryokaku star-shaped fort viewable far and wide from across Hakodate.

From either one of the two observation platforms at 86 m and 90 m high, panoramic views of Mount Hakodate, the Tsugaru Straits and the Yokotsu Mountain Range can be yours to appreciate.

Having just left Goryokaku Park, I headed with a final destination of the Trappistine Convent in mind – nearly 8 km away. Lucky for me, at the halfway point in Yunokawa, I partook of the public footbath where I rejuvenated the soles of my feet.

Along the way I stopped and chatted with an elderly local man near a tram depot, visited a local shrine during a brief respite and enjoyed the warm summer-like day at the grounds of my journey's end, the convent.

I capped off my sojourn with a refreshing reward, a strawberry shaved ice, before catching a city bus back to my hotel near Hakodate Station.