Explore Hokkaido - Cruising around the city of Sapporo - Day 8

Sayorana Almaz Place, I will be back again if I do return to Sapporo in the near future.

Together with our baggage we continued with our visitation where we will be checking in into another place in Sapporo.

We were never get bored with Sukiya and always enjoyed the delicious food. Here we were for another breakfast.

Sapporo Beer Museum was our first place to visit as we were on our way to our next apartment in Sapporo.

This is the only Japanese museum dedicated to beer which dealt with the long history of beer in Japan as far back in 1876. Don't indicate that you are cycling if you intend to taste the beer in the museum as it is prohibited by their law.

At one of the props for photography. So much beer to get yourself drown in the giant mug.

The queue to dine in the restaurant was pretty long so we opted only for the beer tasting. 

A set of 3 different beers for tasting costing an amount of 800¥. The beer was indeed fresh and soothing, it came with a packet of nuts.

It took us quite a while locating for this apartment nevertheless we found it (Matsubara Building). It is a self managed accommodation without any person to communicate where we get the key to the apartment from a letter box with a code number for the access to the lift. The landmark is Premier Hotel Tsubaki Sapporo which is situated opposite of the road.   

The apartment is decent and sufficiently well equipped for our usage. It is a studio type and the location is not too far away from the centre of Sapporo, known as Sky Apartment. We booked tthrough Booking.com. GPS location : 43.054615, 141.366334

I quite like this apartment with no issue of keeping our bicycles and it is totally serene and quiet.

As for lunch we stumbled into Ramen Takeichi located at GPS : 43.052905, 141.368016 and decided to give it a try after seeing that it was crowded and the ramen had to be good.

The cook was very busy with his preparation and don't seem to be smiling at all.

We ordered two different ramen both were good and delicious. Actually we do not have the slighter idea as what we have actually ordered but most importantly they tasted good in the end.

Ramen 1 with a thicker broth for Jo.

And ramen 2 with clear broth for me.

After the lunch we kept hitting southward and finally we found Nakajima Park.  One of the best city parks in Japan, it is big and historical with streams and a pond. There were boating activity seen at the pond.

The park was vibrant and crowded with weekend visitors enjoying the beauty of the park and it was the start of cherry blossom season. There were couple of food trucks in the park.

At a corner with the most cherry blossom seen.

And a place to eat and drink, indeed a nice place to chill and relax.

Feeling wonderful seeing and getting close to these tulip flowers during our ride to the next place.

At Sosei River side with a sake festival.

Looks like there were a number of sake breweries busy promoting their products and of course there were many potential customers enjoying to taste of the sake.

Rolling through the covered area of Tanukikoji Shopping Street.

Then we saw Nijio Market, a fresh food market with a variety of fresh seafood like salmon, crabs and others. We took a quick look around the area.

Passing by one of the shops at the fringe of the market.

Then a brief peep into a sake making museum located at GPS : 43.059260, 141.364160 called Chitosetsuru Sake Museum.  Welcome to Chitose Tsuru Sake Museum. You can try the water that can be said to be the life of "Chitose Tsuru." Medium hard water suitable for sake making, which is pumped from 150 meters underground. You can feel the cleanliness of the water.

The outside of the museum.

This Lawson is near where we stayed and got ourselves some food for the evening and wouldn't be going out anymore til the next day.

Day 8 was a day we moved over to a new accommodation, spent substantiate time in Sapporo Beer Museum and Nakajima Park with a total distance of 16km covered.

Explore Hokkaido - Taking the River Side of Toyohira to Moerenuma Park - Day 7

We left Almaz Place early in the morning heading our way towards the River of Toyohira for a river side ride. Our plan was to finally reach Moerenuma Park to catch some early sakura.

Sukiya fast food chain is another of our favourite place for meal, the food is tasty and prices are relatively cheaper. 

We found the river where we started tagging along Toyohira River from Mizuho Bridge, a bicycle lane was found by the side of the river.

The weather started good and was pleasant to cycle. We saw a couple of cyclists using the bicycle lane too.

There are many bridges crossing Toyohira River as we headed towards north to Moerenuma Park.

A couple of irrigation structures were seen along the way such as this one.

As we got further northward it was quiet and hardly anyone cycling on the path except a few bulldozers busy levelling some muddy earth at the river side.

The serenity continued without any soul seen at the place, we just could not resist to take picture of this row of concrete water breakers.

Then it started to drizzle as we approach Moerunuma Park where we took shelter several times at different locations and finally the sky was clear and good to cycle. Moerenuma Park (モエレ沼公園, Moerenuma Kōen) is a large park in the outskirts of Sapporo. Surrounded by a marsh, the park has a circumference of about four kilometers. 

We went exploring the park taking lot of pictures of cherry blossom.

Suddenly Jo realised that she has a flat tyre and it was a tiny staple that resulted the puncture.

The grounds are covered with attractive green space with massive and dramatic features that make the park a very unique public space.

Crossing a railway line on our return journey where we were looking for the nearest train station so that we can commute back to the city centre instead of cycling.

We found Ainosato Keon Station which is a small station without any people manning it, you can get the train ticket from the vending machine.

We met these young friendly students trying their best to communicate and guide us as to which side of the station we should be waiting for our train to Sapporo. They were really adorable and fun.

Here comes the train and we will be heading back to the city of Sapporo.

It's back to the city and we headed straight to Almaz Place after another day of visiting places with our bicycles.

Our route of the day covering a distance of 34km. Till then we shall explore more of Sapporo tomorrow.

Explore Hokkaido - Sapporo Here We Come Again - Day 6

Back to Toyako Onsen Bus Terminal to catch the coach to Sapporo where we have made a reservation for two seats to Sapporo and as advised by the staff a day earlier to make such booking to avoid any disappointment.

Day 6 started with a morning leisure ride around Toya where we visited a hot hand bath located at GPS : 42.565355, 140.821101

Back to Daiwa Ryokan to pack our stuff checking out at 10.00am (which seems to be the case in most places in Japan)

It's goodbye to Daiwa Ryokan for two nights in a family run hotel and it would be good if the owner could refurbish the rooms for a better place to stay. 

We still have ample time to spend as our bus to Sapporo was scheduled at 12:10pm, so we went cruising the surrounding looking for interesting spots and came across an observatory park.

Jo went for a stroll along a trail to check out some of the abandoned apartments that were damaged by a volcanic eruption in 2000. The weather was ideal for a walk. I could also see a sheet piled wall structure constructed to prevent any possible flow of volcanic mud/ashes.

We simply love the food here and were back again for another meal before we leave Lake Toya.

 The yummy lunch at the same restaurant for the second visit.

The new era - The abdication of Emperor Akihito on April 30 2019 and the enthronement of his eldest son Naruhito the following day as the 126th emperor of Japan, was a landmark event.

I love eggs and these eggs sold at the Bus Ternimal were boiled with natural hot spring water at a temperature of 92°C. I had of 2 of them.

The fare was 2,780¥ which is about RM100.00 each. Time to bade goodbye to Lake Toya and it was indeed a good visit to this part of the world.

The next 2 hours plus in a comfort of Donan Bus setting to Sapporo with couple of stops at resorts which are mostly ski resorts.

The bus journey was rather interesting with lovely scenery and a chance to see the places covered with snow especially at the stretches passing by the mountainous area in the vicinity of Mount Sapporo. A  stop for toilet break where I had the opportunity to take a close snap of the surrounding.

The distance from Toyako to Sapporro is slight more 100km and we arrived safely at Sapporo Bus Terminal which is just next to the main Train Station.

The Bromptons were back on the streets of Sapporo and I set my Oregon device to find our accommodation which is estimated to be 3km from Sapporo Terminal.

We were two days earlier from our original schedule and had pre-booked this family run accommodation at Almaz Place. The owner is Masashi San staying in the upper most floor with his family. Masashi San mentioned that he has visited Kuala Lumpur before and had enjoyed very much in Malaysia. I love Almaz Place it is cosy and well equipped. Our bicycles were kept at a store underneath the staircase.

 The cosy studio room of Almaz Place.

Food & drink for the evening.

After having checked into Almaz Place we visited a supermarket to get some food and drinks. I was glad to use his box to carry our purchase. Boxes are available at the supermarket and given free for those who need them. That's is all for Day 6 and we were ready to further explore the city of Sapporo.