Hell Valley / Jigokudani - Hokkaido Travel Day 3

Before checking into our most expensive stay in Hokkaido, we decided to visit a place as planned in our itinerary. We decided to visit the Hell Valley first before we proceed to check in at the hotel in the afternoon. Official check in time is 3pm anyway so we might as well make good use of our time.

We parked our car right outside the entrance to the Hell Valley. There is a paid parking space available for visitors. Hell Valley is well known for its displays of hot steam vents, sulfurous streams and other volcanic activity. It is the source of the natural spring water for the Onsen Hotels in Noboribetsu.

Okay...okay we get the idea...Hell Valley.

Once inside there will be a walking trail to follow....

As we walked deeper inside, we found many geysers of different intensity / activeness spraying out hot steam and water. To me, the smell of ammonia was still bearable and fine with me.

Cross the barrier and it will land you in Hot Soup!

Intense Volcanic Activity In Front...

After about 10-15 minutes walk later, we have a chance to see an active geyser close up. Contrary to what I understand about geysers, the bubbles due to intense heat at boiling temperatures don't gush out all the time. Instead it happens intermittently and at its peak hot water and steam can burst out in great force. Well, something new that I have learned today :). Overall, I feel that this place is quite a good place for a leisurely walk given the comfortable weather in Noboribetsu even it is during summer. We basically only completed the short trail only which took us about 45 mins. The trail is actually a long one and if ventured deeper inside, we would have found a hot spring river and lake as well.

As it was already close to noon, we did not spent too much time at the hell valley. and we decided to head for lunch by noon. Furthermore, wifey and I wanted to allow more time to relax in the luxurious Boro Noguchi Noboribetsu Onsen Hotel.

We headed for lunch at the only seafood restaurant located in the main street of Noboribetsu Onsen Dori which is less than 10mins walk from Hell Valley's car park. We ordered scallop curry rice, clam soup and sea urchin rice bowl. All I can say here is the food is really delicious and fresh!! Honestly I never actually eaten such big clams and scallop before. It was certainly one of the most satisfying lunch ever.

More to come.....

Click on LINK to Day 3 Part 1

Click on LINK to Hokkaido Travel Blog (Overview)

Dresden and Prague - Parlo Eastern Europe Tour Review (Day 3)

A view outside our hotel in Berlin.

Good morning Berlin! On day 3 we will be heading to Dresden, Germany and continue our journey to Prague in Czech Republic. Before that, we shall indulge ourselves with our first authentic European buffet breakfast :) Probably I was over excited, I forgot to take any picture during breakfast but I recalled the buffet breakfast spread was quite good at Andels Hotel.

After breakfast we headed down south to city of Dresden. Our bus journey took about 2 hours but we had a pit stop at midway.

Enjoying my drink during a not so cold winter....

Finally we arrived at Dresden at around 10.30a.m.

Our first sight of the City of Dresden

Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for centuries which is rich with cultural and artistic splendour. The city was badly damaged during world war 2 and a lot of effort was put in to restore the place. This explains why some of the buildings look relatively new and beautiful although they should be centuries old.

On the right the famous mural depicting the Procession of Princes

Frauenkirche - A church rebuilt after it was destroyed during WWII. As far as possible the ruins were reused to reconstruct the church.

Zwinger Palace

River Elbe

Our lunch was at a restaurant by the name of Sophienkeller located within walking distance from the place we visited in Dresden. I felt that the restaurant is quite special as it is located underground. Food was quite good too.

Chicken and Vegetable Pie

Apple Strudel

After lunch we proceed with our journey to Prague, Czech Republic located 2 hours drive away.

Our tour bus!!!

By the time we arrived to Prague it was in the evening around 5pm. We checked in ourselves into Prague Clarion Congress Hotel for 2 nights.

Prague Clarion Congress Hotel - Lobby

It looks like a pretty quiet hotel with basic settings but nevertheless the hotel is still quite comfortable. It kind of reminds me of a video walkthrough of a hotel in North Korea that I watched over youtube not too long ago.

Prague Clarion Congress Hotel - Café

Prague Clarion Congress Hotel - Our Room

The room was pretty comfortable and clean. Contrary to what I learned from my western Europe tour in 2014, the hotels in eastern Europe do provide coffee making facilities.

What is nice with this hotel is that it is attached with a shopping complex but.... it is also quite quiet as well. Probably it is already late and as we all know shops in Europe do close much earlier. There is also a supermarket for those who are interested to buy some snacks or drinks.

After a short walk, we headed back to the hotel for a buffet dinner.

Prague Clarion Congress Hotel - Buffet Dinner

My dinner, a slice of cutlet, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and pickled vegetables....Nice!

The third thing I like about this hotel is that it comes with complimentary gym access. Not the ordinary hotel gym but a Fitness First look a like located in the shopping complex which just opposite of the hotel lobby. Finally I get to burn some fat that I have gathered from the trip. Yay!

 More to come....

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