Living in a fairy tale

My travel treasure is a small city which is very easy to miss when you're going to Japan. City not as popular as Tokyo, or Kyoto, but certainly wonderful. City of hot spring, city combining hills and sea. City of cats. Beppu. City that I fell in love with. Unconditionally.

It was six years since I accidentally visited this city but I can't get this visit out of my head. It's because this city is a fairy tale. I will never forget the mystical atmosphere, looking out of the window of an old fashioned (but not traditional) hotel room , watching hills surrounded by thick steam produced by Beppu's hot springs. In these springs you can cook your eggs! The lotus flowers there are so big you can actually put your kid there and have a break for a while, the lotus can handle it! In a spare time you can feed a hippo or crocodille...

Go deeper into the forest and you can feel like you're in a jungle, the steam is so refreshing!

People living and old fashion life like I'm used to in my little home town in Czech republic. Knowing their neighbours, helping the clueless foreigners. They don't need to know the language, the siple 'hello' is enough.:)
People also living the popular 'company' life, but not forgetting to have a swim in a sea once in a while, to lose some weight of their shoulders.

Yes, Beppu is a city that stayed in my heart long after I left it. Simple, small, yet significant. Like a fairytale.