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Day Trip to Isawa Onsen (again)

I went to Isawa Onsen a couple of months back, but I wanted to come again to hit another winery that I didn't have time to visit the last time. This time, a buddy came with me. We hit both wineries that were within walking distance from the station.

I woke up dark and early to catch the 7:15am express to Isawa Onsen. I was able to book a seat on an earlier train than the last time. We have plenty of time to around the wineries and enjoy a leisurely lunch.

Roses in front of the station were in bloom. Of course, we stopped to take pics of the lovely roses. The surrounding mountains looked surreal with the tops covered in clouds so we took a few pics of that, too. It was raining when I left the house and was raining a bit when we to got Isawa Onsen, but it stopped raining and the weather held for the rest of the day.

We decided to hit the winery that I didn't go to the last time. The Mars Yamanashi Winery was set up by a shochu and whiskey producer from Kagoshima in 1960. Their orange wine is carried at one of the hotels in Tokyo. They have a cellar where visitors can visit freely. We saw these big clay pots lined up in one of the rooms. Turns out that these clay pots housed wines made that specific year and mixed with spirits and brandy made by that company. There was a pot from the year the winery started. It appears that they bottled and sold the wine. I did see a few bottles from different years, but they didn't have one from my year. Too bad. Although I figured it'd go for around 300 bucks. My buddy said it would've been great if they had the wine and I opened it on my 100th birthday. I was like, I'm gonna live that long??!! She was like, sure, why not? LOL

Their dispensers look like barrels built into the wall with little spouts to pour the wine from. They offered six types of wine for free tasting. I wasn't really a fan of their orange wine, but the other wine they had on offer was to my liking. I took home a bottle of wine that was only sold at the winery.

We then headed for lunch at the same hotel I had lunch at the last time. On the way, we came across a river with koi and ducks. Seems that the downstream current was pretty strong, so the ducks looked like they were having a grand time gliding down the river. We ended up spending a bit of time at the river watching the koi and ducks. It's moments like this that makes me like these types of tours instead of bus tours, since we're not on any particular schedule or set course.

We made it to the hotel and it appears that they changed the desserts a little while after I visited the last time. I was disappointed that they didn't offer the dessert buffet anymore and it was replaced with a plate of dessert. But the food was good and the plate of dessert was cake and muscat jelly.

After lunch we went down to the garden to feed the koi. They literally swarmed the bridge opening and closing their mouths in hopes to catch a morsel. The fish looked like they were stacked on top of each other. We moved to the other end of the bridge and the koi swam around to where we were. They were a greedy bunch.

We headed to the next winery, the one I went to the last time. We enjoyed a glass of 2002 Cabernet when we got there, then proceeded to taste wines on offer. They also had brandies for paid tasting but I think I'll pass on the 60% alcohol one. There were some gents trying the brandy and they were like their throat was on fire. LoL

The last time, they offered other wines to taste but not so much this time. But, I got a bottle of a Bailey A that I liked that last time but chose to bring home a bottle of sweet rose and a bottle of sparkling wine instead.

We headed back to the hotel to soak in their onsen bath. Like the last time, I enjoyed a nice soak in the outdoor bath. It was heavenly. My buddy was saying that everytime she stayed at a hotel with an onsen, she tries to take advantage of the bath as often as possible. Sounds like my travel buddy. The hotel offers free ice cream bars to guests, so of course we enjoyed a couple to make up for the lack of sweets at lunch since they changed from a buffet to plate.

We still had time before we had to catch the train, so we decided to find somewhere for an early dinner. The first place we went to was fully booked for a party. On the way to the first place, we came across a bridge and saw a couple of egrets in the water. We were amused to see other egrets perched on top of the power lines. Not something you see everyday. We went to another place, but we weren't feeling like Chinese after we saw the menu since it looked too heavy. There were a couple other places that looked good but they opened at 6pm and our train was 7pm. We lucked out at the next one we went to. Although they were fully booked, they did have a small table free until 6:30, which was perfect. We still had almost an hour and a half for dinner. We decided to get a few dishes to share. Turns out we chose well. The food came out quickly and all of the dishes we ordered were good.

We still had a few minutes til we had to catch the train, so we checked out the supermarket since it was still open. My buddy was saying she wanted to get some shine muscat grapes, and lo and behold, there were the grapes and on sale. She was happy, although the grapes added to the weight in her backpack. She already got a couple bottles of wine. My wheelie bag came in handy since I got a couple of bottles, myself.

It was a good day trip. Now I have to figure out where to go next.

 Oct 31