Hakodate
Distance: 7 miles
Total Distance: 1532 miles
Photo Album
Vicky and I had an amazing day today in Hakodate–lots of sightseeing and plenty fun meals! Looking back through the pictures, we can’t believe we fit so much into just one day 
I’m going to let the pictures tell the story, because Vicky captured the feel of the city so well. Some of the highlights for us were: eating sushi at the morning fish market, biking through town to my old neighborhood, a picnic lunch in Goryokaku Park, a nice ride through the historical Motomachi district, watching the sunset from the top of Hakodate Mountain, and a great dinner at local burger chain Lucky Pierrot’s. We were going to stay another day, but I want Vicky to see Onuma Park as well (north of Hakodate), so we’re going to ride over and camp there instead.

At the morning fish market... this little boy was in awe with the huge crab

Hakodate is famous for its squid. What funny-looking guys!

Fresh squid and sea urchin for sale at the morning fish market

At the market

Squid swimming around a large pool at the market...

... if you want to buy one, you have to go fishing!

Huge crab legs

Our delicious lunch of fresh crab, salmon roe, sea urchin and scallop sushi on rice at the market

Delicious

Old fahioned street cars of Hakodate

We're obsessed with the pastries they sell here

Goryokaku tower, overlooking the castle grounds and park

Our sushi and bread picnic at Goryokaku

The apartment Kelly lived in for 2 years is in the back

Russian Orthodox church in the international district of Motomachi

Russian Orthodox Church

This part of town reminded us of San Francisco, with its steep hills and cobblestone streets

The ropeway up to Hakodate Mountain

Little boy trying to figure out how the binoculars work

An amazing view of the city from the top of Hakodate Mountain

Some workers enjoying the evening

We see a lot of sunsets in San Diego, but this one still blew us away

We weren't the only ones photographing the sunset

Dusk

Lucky Pierrot, a crazy Hakodate-only hamburger chain.

Clam burgers, squid burgers, egg burgers, and more!

So good!

Yum!

Warehouse district at night
Hi, Vicky and Kelly,
Now that we are on our trip and in our nice hotel in Florence (Papa retired!, Mummy away from work for a while), we’ve had a chance to catch up with your website. We have been so excited to follow your trip, and can’t wait to see you on July 10 in Phoenix. Your pictures of Hakodate bring back so many wonderful memories of our trip there to visit Kel in 2000. We enjoyed the town and the people we met there, and appreciated the kindness of everyone we met.
Love you guys,
M and P
I enjoy reading and seeing your photos. Sound like a great experience. You both look so.happy.
Susan with Trek
Hi, Kelly kun and Vicky,
Finally you guys arrived at Hokkaido! Wow!
I enjoy your journal and your photos especially Hakodate since I went there often when I was chiled.
With same reason, expecting Sapporo, too.
I really hope you won’t catch rain in Hokkaido.
Safe journey and look forward to seeing you soon!!
Chihiro
ha, squid fishing! So cool! Also, I love how so many of your pictures are of food 😉
Kel, this is dumb, but I had no idea Hakodate was so big. That photo of it from the hill is incredible. For some reason, I thought it was much smaller.
Now I know what you guys are doing and its not riding thru the Country but eating your way thru the Country! I will think about you on my hour bike ride to work tomorrow morning.
Mike