Mame Tengu
From Gujō Hachiman the bus climbed another two hours into the mountains to Takayama, and the tour gave us about two hours there. That’s not a lot of Takayama, so: ramen first, old town after.
Lunch was at Mame Tengu, a small shop serving Hida Takayama chūka soba: a dark soy-sauce broth that tastes lighter than it looks, with thin curly noodles.
You order at the door and get a queue ticket, then wait on the bench outside until they call you. We both went for the chāshū-men, one with an ajitama egg and one without, around ¥2,500 for the two of us.
Both bowls came buried under slices of chāshū.
Sanmachi, the old town
Then the old town. Sanmachi is three narrow streets of dark wooden merchant houses from the Edo period, with sake breweries, little shops and water running in the gutters along the street. Kami-sannomachi is the prettiest of the three, and the busiest.
Snoopy Chaya and a Cremia
There’s a Snoopy Chaya in one of the old houses, Snoopy dressed up Japanese-style. Then a Cremia soft serve, the extra-rich one in a cookie cone. It got a full photoshoot before the first lick: four photos, same cone, same street.
Autumn in Takayama means chestnut everything, so the last stop before the bus was a chestnut latte. Rilakkuma came along for that one.
Then back on the bus, onward to Shirakawa-gō!
Postcard from Takayama, Gifu
A small Hida Takayama chūka soba shop: soy-sauce broth, thin curly noodles. Buy a queue ticket at the door and wait on the bench outside.