On Monday I spent most of the day visiting a part of Kobe I had never been to before. Part of the Rokko Mountain chain that borders the city, the Herbal Gardens can be reached by ropeway from Shin-Kobe Station. At the top, you get some lovely views of the city, provided, of course, that it isn't raining. But if it does rain, the garden staff have stations where they provide free umbrellas to use. Definitely convenient!
Once you reach the top, there's a small rose garden tucked in the back. Many of the blossoms had fallen, but plenty were still in bloom. They smelled great in the rain!
There were other flowers besides roses, of course....
The roses came in every possible color!
The raindrops actually created a lovely effect, once I figured out how to balance my umbrella and camera simultaneously...
After the rose garden, I slowly worked my way down the paths to experience the rest of the Herbal Gardens. Some of the areas were themed with herbal plants, fruits and vegetables, and there was even a lovely greenhouse full of tropical plants. The hydrangea were near their peak blooms!
Speaking of hydrangea, I'm pretty sure these qualify as such.
Spotted this plump sparrow digging for grubs among the hydrangea.
I have no idea what the majority of the plants that I photographed were.
Most of these were flowers I had never seen before, so I couldn't even begin to guess what they were.
Lots of honeybees were busy in the gardens. You can buy all sorts of locally-produced honey products at the gift shops there.
Once I got tired of photographing the flowers, I could take a break and relax at the herbal foot bath (tucked in behind the greenhouse). It was free to use, though they asked for a small donation if you borrowed a towel. The heated water was surprisingly comfortable on the rainy day, though there wasn't much of the city to appreciate due to the clouds and rain.
My camera has a panorama setting, which I discovered midway down. It's kind of tricky to use, but when I pull it off properly the results are lovely!
My first reaction seeing these plants in the greenhouse was to think of a pokemon that was clearly inspired by their design.
After the greenhouse there was a path winding through a lavender garden. They were in full bloom, and smelled fantastic!
Spotted this cute statue. The gardeners had all sorts of cute little things hidden among the greenery, if you kept a careful eye out for them.
I spotted this sign explaining the animals that live on the mountain. I probably saw most of the birds, but managed to avoid any boars or tanuki.
Once the gardens were over, there was still plenty to see on the mountain trails back to the bottom. At first I thought I might have gotten lost, because the trail head I found was so narrow and overgrown, but once I arrived at the reservoir I realized I was going the right direction, albeit an irregularly traveled one. According to what I could glean from the souvenir shops selling bottled water, this reservoir is one of the main sources of drinking water in Kobe. And you can buy Kobe-tower-shaped bottled water made from this source. Neat, right?
The dam holding the reservoir waters back. It is truly gigantic, and this photo doesn't do the size of it justice.
The first of the waterfalls I encountered following the river trail down. This one must not be very popular, because there wasn't any real viewing platform by which to properly observe it. It was still quite lovely, though.
Here is the main waterfall attraction! It had a large viewing platform and shrines dedicated to its majesty. It was very impressive!
I definitely recommend the gardens and trail to anyone visiting Kobe. Taking the ropeway up, and then climbing down is probably the best way to experience it. There are plenty of restaurants within the garden selling homegrown herb-based foods. Due to the weather, not all of my photos of the garden areas came out clearly, especially of the lily fields and hydrangea paths. The waterfalls were also really cool, especially considering their close proximity to the city (the main one being perhaps a 15 minute walk from Shin-Kobe station).
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