Travel notes of Nagasaki: Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine, Dutch slope and Meganebashi Bridge

[Introduction]

I traveled to Nagasaki Prefecture for three days and two nights. The main objective was to see “Nagasaki Lantern Festival. In this article, I will write about Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine, Dutch slope and Meganebashi Bridge as part of day 2.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1 (1) Huis Ten Bosch: Flower Road and Amsterdam City etc.
* Day 1 (2) Huis Ten Bosch: Tower City and Harbor Town etc.
* Day 1 (3) Huis Ten Bosch: illumination in the evening
* Day 2 (1) Peace Park, Urakami Cathedral and Atomic Bomb Museum
* Day 2 (2) Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine, Dutch slope and Meganebashi Bridge [This article]
* Day 2 (3) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Shinchi Chinatown and Confucian Shrine
* Day 3 (1) Dejima and Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument
* Day 3 (2) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Central Park
* Day 3 (3) Nagasaki Lantern Festival: Shian-bashi Bridge and Tojin Yashiki Ato

[Travel Date]
2016.02.11-13

[Main Part]

It was the second day in the afternoon of the Nagasaki trip. I moved to Minami-Yamate / Higashi-Yamate area where several famous tourists spots were located.

The above photo was taken at the Glover Street, a shopping district.

Oura Cathedral

First, I visited Oura Cathedral.

Oura Cathedral, which was built in 1864, is the oldest wooden church in Japan. Stained glass and ceiling in the church was so beautiful, but visitors were prohibited from taking photos inside the building. So, I just took photos outside.

Glover Garden

Then, I moved to Glover Garden. Glover Garden is a tourist spot showing nine western-style architectures. The exhibited buildings include the the former residence of Thomas Glover, Frederick Ringer and William Alt, who came to Japan from UK in 1859 as merchants.

Former Glover House.

Former “Jiyu-Tei” Restaurant, which is now used as a cafe.

Former Ringer House.

Former Alt House.

Former Steele Memorial Academy.

Former Walker House.

Nagasaki Confucian Shrine

After I left Glover Garden, I walked to Nagasaki Confucian Shrine for about 10 minutes. As the name suggests, Nagasaki Confucian Shrine is dedicated to the Chinese philosopher Confucius. It was developed by Chinese residents of Nagasaki in 1893.

Dutch slope

Then, I moved to Dutch Slope.

Dutch Slope is the steep streets of the former residential area for Western Merchants, mostly from Netherland. Hence, houses here are mixed styles of Western and Japanese architectures.

“Higashi-Yamate Western residences”

The brown building is now used as a hospital.

The blue house is “Higashi-Yamate-Ko No.13 building”, which was used as a French consular office.

Inside the building.

There was another house (Higashi-Yamate No.12 building) behind the house.

So far I walked around Minami-Yamate/Higashi-Yamate area.

Meganebashi Bridge

I moved to another area to see Meganebashi Bridge.

Meganebashi Bridge (“spectacles bridge”) was built in 1634 and is the oldest wooden arched bridge in Japan. Reflections here look like glasses, so the bridge is called Meganebashi Bridge (“spectacles bridge”).

Turkey rice for dinner

I had a dinner at “Kitchen Seiji”, a western food restaurant.

The restaurant was built about 50 years ago and tram is used as its exterior.

Inside the restaurant.

I ordered Turkey rice, which is one of the local dishes in Nagasaki.

After dinner, I started to watch Nagasaki Lantern Festival and I will write about it in the next article.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine, Dutch slope and Meganebashi Bridge as part of day 2. In Minami-Yamate/Higashi-Yamate area where Oura Cathedral, Glover Garden, Confucian Shrine and Dutch slope are located, I enjoyed different cultures such as Japanese, Chinese and Dutch at a time 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Nagasaki Lantern Festival.