Together with Wards family, we spent a weekend in Hakone; a really beautiful green area of Japan located near Mount Fuji! The nature is beautiful in Hakone, it’s a volcanic area with active sulfur vents that produce natural hot springs. The place to be to relax! And so,  we had some adventures involving hot springs, pirates and black eggs :-) But more on that later! The day we arrived we took the cable car to our hotel which was located on the other side of a mountain ridge. There are a lot of cable cars in Hakone and from there you get a fantastic view of the whole area.

 

We were a bit late but managed to catch the last cable car just in time. We were in for a really nice surprise. The sun was setting as the cable car climbed higher and higher up the mountain…

And then!!!:

 

Woooooooooow the most beautiful view of mount Fuji I have ever seen!!! The whole mountain turned purple as the sky behind it was turning red from the sunset.

A group of Japanese girls who shared the cable car with us were screaming of enthusiasm haha. We were incredibly lucky since around this time of year, Fuji is usually hidden behind thick clouds.

 

At the hotel we had a delicious Japanese traditional dinner!

 

And wished Fuji goodnight from our room balconies. The view was amazing:

 

The next day, we got up early (really really 7:30-early) and after breakfast enjoyed a nice morning in one of the natural hot springs!

Some of these hot springs actually had some sulfur in them, making them smell like rotten eggs… No really! But it felt sooo nice that we didn’t mind hahaha. Also it’s supposed to be really healthy.

And again, with that great view !!

The Japanese life can be hectic and sometimes seems to only revolve around working long hours, but the Japanese also really know how to relax. I mean, soaking in a hot bath while looking out on the green hills and mount Fuji, that has got to be one the most relaxing experiences in my life.

After the bath, we walked to the lake and took the pirate boat to the other side. The pirate boat? Yes, the pirate boat.

Two of them even.

 

Taking a pirate boat on a lake with a view of mount Fuji was a very unique experience haha. Ward and Jurgen felt like real pirates;

On the other side of the like was a lovely village and some nice mountain paths. We took a group picture at a ” picture point”. In the back there is -supposed- to be a mount Fuji but it was swallowed by the clouds. But by now I’m sure you can imagine a Fuji in there haha.

 

There he is again!

 

We also saw some lovely bridges:

 

But wait, this is not just any bridge! It was awarded to be #100 of the 100 most beautiful bridges in the Kanagawa prefecture :p!

 

We then took the pirate ship back to the cable car station. We took the cable car to the top of the mountain, and that is where we encountered the black eggs!

Mount Fuji is actually a huge volcano and you notice this all around. Really scary are the deep rumblings and bangs you sometimes hear when walking around Hakone, sounds coming from the deep depths of the earth. Another interesting phenomenon are the sulfur vents, spots and cracks in the mountains where sulfur reaches the surface. Here you can see the sulfur coming out of the mountain (the yellow stuff) and the mines around them.

The mountains are literally smoking with sulfur. We visited one of these places…

Which apparently are pretty dangerous…!  And it smelled sooooo bad, like really concentrated rotten eggs…. Not a pleasant place to be.

But it’s a really popular tourist spot because here, you can eat black eggs boiled in the sulfur hot springs!

Really? Yes really! It is said that when you eat one of these eggs, you prolong your life with 7 years! (but eating more than two a half is highly discouraged for some reason). Of course we ate an egg, which wasn’t the most tasty thing to eat while smelling strong rotten egg scents coming from the sulfur vents hahaha.

The eggs are boiled on top of the mountain, and then put in these baskets and via a little ropeway system they are transported to the main station. Really funny, these little boxes of black eggs travelling down the cables :-)

After our egg-experience (eggsperience?) we travelled back to Tokyo.

 

Hakone was an amazing place to be. We got to see the beautiful mount Fuji while relaxing in natural hot springs,, travel on pirate boats and prolong our lives by eating black eggs. If you visit Japan, be sure to spend some days in this amazing area!