Visiting Catholic Miuracho Church, Sasebo

After visiting Ishidake observatory, we headed to the nearest spot, Catholic Miuracho Church⛪ 

In 1891, the Sasebo Naval Base was established and Sasebo developed as a military port. As the area developed, the number of Christians increased, and Sasebo Church was founded in 1899. With the further development of the military capital, the current church was built on October 1, 1930, in the relocated Miuracho through the efforts of the third-generation chief priest, Asagoro Wakita.  

It's a beautiful Gothic building, but both the designer and the builder are unknown😄 

During the World War Two, it was persecuted by the military as a pagan, and the building was even painted black with coal tar to make it a target for air raids😨

Entrance stairs. It is in front of Sasebo Station, but hilltop. You have to go up three stairs, like a really steep cliff💦😢

The image is downloading from mock5130's blog on Ameblo.

The statue of Virgin Mary. She loves you very much😀

    

Panoramic views of the 99 islands from Ishidake observatory

In the afternoon, we had decided to take a drive🚙 to Ishidake (石岳) viewpoint, Sasebo. Ishidake is a scenic mountain in Saikai National Park where you can see the various islands floating in Sasebo Bay🌊 

This place is also known as the filming location for the famous Hollywood movie "The Last Samurai" starring Tom Cruise🎥

We parked a car in front of Sasebo city zoo🐈and go up to the top of the mountain🌄

After that we went to the second view point on the opposite side. From here, you can see the awesome view of the many small islands in front of you😊

Panoramic views of Ureshino from Tateiwa Viewpoint

On Wednesday, we had decided to take a drive🚙 to see the 99 Islands in Sasebo. Before going to that, we went to Tateiwa Observatory, Ureshino, Saga. From here, you can see the awesome view of the hot springs town♨😁 

Driving on Prefectural Routes 1 and 6 from Ureshino Interchange on Nagasaki Expressway and passing some gentle curves, we came to the top of the hill🌄 But there is a narrow road, you should be careful when driving😀

The Ureshino city center seen from the observation deck on roof.

The North-East area. The new bullet train Station🚄 called Ureshino Onsen (嬉野温泉) is in the foreground🚉

Tea field🍵 near to the building. Ureshino is locally known as a tea garden and its hot spring resorts🏨