entrance gift at Glover Garden
Thursday, 11 May 2017
Today we visited several places not far away from our hotel: we passed 'Chinatown' on our way to the 'Hollander Slope', where the first Western people settled after the ports of Japan opened in 1859.
Chinatown
The houses on the Slope are now a Japanese heritage area and are kept well.
In the old days the view on the Nagasaki harbour from the slope was no doubt much better, coz there weren't any apartment buildings in those days that blocked the view.
We learned about all the missionaries (men and women) that started schools, and all the businessmen that made their fortune in Nagasaki.
On we went with the stairs and the elevator to the Glover Garden, which exhibits mansions of former Western residents of Nagasaki. It is located on the hill where Western merchants settled down after the end of Japan's era of seclusion in the second half of the 19th century and contains several houses of English business men who were very important for the development of Nagasaki and who played a major role in society in those days. Mr. Glover was one of them.
Glover Garden
P.'s into panorama pics
tooo many koi carps
of course Japanese girls dressed up into Scottish costumes from the 19th century
statue of Madame Butterfly; the famous opera of Puccini, which is set in Nagasaki
lazy turtle
the former Alt residence with a 'fence' of white and red roses
lots of school kids around. These ones 'interviewed' us
lovely roses and a view on the activities in the harbour (Mitsubishi warf)
the Ringer house
time for a beer
the Glover house, which was the first stone house in Japan
The garden is beautiful with great views on the harbour, lovely plants, trees, ponds, koi carps, turtles, birds AND a wonderful terrace where we had a beer.
Last stop was the first catholic church in Japan; the Oura church, which celebrated its 150th birthday in 2015. It wasn't easy in the early days to be a christian; 26 were crucified by the shogun and are now the 26 saints of Japan.
cute rabbit bench in front of the church.
On our last evening in Nagasaki we revisited the awesome restaurant which we visited the first evening: again we enjoyed muchly.
Tomorrow we will leave our home in Nagasaki and head for the countryside, first stop will be the vulcanic area of Unzen. Not sure if we will have WIFI there.
dikke kus
Carina
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