長野県の安曇野地区は去年のNHK朝練「おひさま」から始まって、人気観光スポットとなってきました。最寄の高速インターの名前が「安曇野IC」に変更になったぐらい。
先日は家族のドライブで出かけてみましたので、皆様の安曇野冒険に役に立つ情報を少しでも提供したいと思います。
まずは、食べるところ。安曇野で言えば、大王わさび園がもちろん有名ですが、お蕎麦もかなり注目されている。
と思ったが、おそば屋さんを探すのに苦労しました。定休日や廃業日に当たったりして、やっと４件目で見付けたのは：
そば処「常念」
県道から離れていた、隠れていた場所に広い庭園の中の昔の豪農の敷地・家をそのままおそば屋になったお店。庭園を眺めながらその骨董品で溢れているインテリアーを楽しめる。
若女将のお勧めは「天ざる」です。
Just north of Matsumoto City is one of Nagano Prefecture's more popular sightseeing destinations: Azumino. It's always had a plethora of visitors coming to the Daio Wasabi Farm and to see the various museums along the Azumino Art Line. But last year's NHK Morning 'Drama' "O-Hisama" propelled Azumino into the nation's conscience. Now the area is so popular, even the local expressway interchange has been renamed "Azumino IC".
Our family recently went for drive to Azumino and I'll post about a few of the places we went to in the hopes it will make you readers want to go and enjoy Azumino, too.
First off, food, as all good trips should do. Azumino has a reputation for yummy soba noodles, but we ended up having a heck of a time finding a noodle shop. A combination of hitting shops on their day off, and shops permanently being 'off', it took us 4 tries to finally find:
Soba-dokoro Jonen.
Hidden on a side street off the main thoroughfares, Jonen is situated in the house and grounds of an Edo-era wealthy farmer. So you can enjoy a view of the formal Japanese garden as well as the interior decorated with a variety of antiques as you have some of Nagano's finest soba.
Note: Kamesei's junior proprietress' recommendation: the tempura soba set.
