Spain Park

We were very lucky with the weather. Where Saturday had been wet, wet, wet, yesterday's weather was glorious.

We took the hotel shuttle bus to the theme park. We knew that the return shuttle wasn't until 4:10, but had been told that we could take a local bus to the station, from where the station to hotel shuttle departed every hour. We only discovered once we got to the theme park that on Sundays there isn't a bus until 3:50. There didn't seem to be much point catching that. We were stuck at the theme park until 4:10!!!

It was a little too long for us, but in fact it was a very good day.

The park is laid out in sections. Rides over there. Spanish cultural stuff over there. Shows, exhibitions and a parade here in the main square. Eating places here. Shops dotted around.   Loos everywhere.

There was a steampunk outdoor theatre show just after we arrived. Of all the things I might have been expecting, steampunk in a Spanish themed park, in coastal Honshu, in Japan, was not one of them!

Don Quixote, of course
I rather prefer the penguin 😃

I do like the boom gates for the train

Steampunk:

Spanish village:

 

Unexpected Spanish galleon:

Escalator up to the castle:

Rides:

There is a museum in a castle. It put me in mind, a bit, of Jorvik in York. No little cars taking you round; you have to walk, but on the ground floor there are lots of representations of people doing ordinary things in medieval Spain

Then we went and waited for the shuttle bus back to the hotel. There was an ENORMOUS queue waiting for the bus to the station. So much so that they had to send extra buses to accommodate them all!

Back at the hotel, we had pre-dinner drinks and snacks. Kaori went to the onsen. We had all you can eat for dinner and Lindsey and I had the all you can drink package because it cost $50 for the two of us and a nice bottle of wine was $60. I do realise that we weren't drinking nice wine using the package, but we were happy to settle for slightly less nice wine for a $10 saving

There is a small observatory at the hotel. I have never stayed at a hotel with an observatory before.  It turns out Lindsey has. Around ten years ago she and Ian brought Stella and Tony here. Tony was VERY excited to have an observatory in the hotel

You could see a very clear image of Saturn through the telescope