All things bright and beautiful: (2019) 9 days in Hawaii --- Day 8 (Monday) Pearl Harbor and downtown Honolulu, Oahu

While Hawaii is renowned for its unique landscape and spectacular natural scenery, it also has a rich and interesting historical past, as we learnt in our current trip. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in WWII is possibly the most famous event in the history of Hawaii. Maybe less well known is the existence of a sovereign Kingdom of Hawaii before the islands were annexed by the US in the late 19th century and later became a state of the US in 1959.

So far in our trip having visited the awe-inspiring Mauna Kea summit, watched the romantic sunset at the Kona Coast, and hiked the magnificent Diamond Head and Manoa Falls trails, we devoted this day to an exploration of the historical aspects of Hawaii. Pearl Harbor National Memorial and the historical Iolani Palace were top of the list of places we wished to see. In between, we strolled around the interesting Chinatown and metropolitan downtown Honolulu.

USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

Getting to Pearl Harbor from our Waikiki hotel was easy, with Bus 42 being a direct link. The bus ride was longer than expected though, taking close to one hour, partly due to slow traffic for parts of the journey on that Monday morning. Visit to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial required advance booking, which we did on-line the day before.

For me, the visit to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial was a sombre experience, as it served as a stark reminder of the cost of war. Several structures in the harbor marked the locations of battleships sunken in the surprise attack on 7th December, 1941. In fact the hulls of the sunken ships now remain in the water below these structures. The largest of the memorials is the USS Arizona Memorial, signifying the largest death toll among the destroyed battleships. Unfortunately, this Memorial was closed to visitors at the time of our visit, so we could only sail past it and paid respect on the ferry.

USS Nevada Memorial, Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

USS Missouri, Pearl Harbor

USS Missouri and USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor National Memorial

Pearl Harbor on the eventful day

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor National Memorial

Pearl Harbor Natioanl Memorial

After an educational morning in Pearl Harbor, we took Bus 42 to downtown Honolulu. We stopped near the historical Chinatown --- it is one of the oldest Chinatowns in the US. Chinese immigrants started settling in Honolulu, known as 檀香山 (Tanxiangshan, literally meaning Sandalwood Mountain), in the 19th Century. As in many Chinatowns across the world, the one in Honolulu is symbolized by distinctive Chinese street signs and shop fronts. Even the district police station is clearly marked in bold Chinese characters. There were quite a number of restaurants in the district and we had lunch at one of them.

Honolulu Chinatown

Honolulu Chinatown

Police Station at Honolulu Chinatown

Honolulu Chinatown

After lunch, we continued to explore downtown Honolulu on foot, passing through the busy streets and high-rise commercial buildings in Central Business District before reaching the Capitol District.

Central Business District, Downtown Honolulu

Central Business District, Downtown Honolulu

The historical Iolani Palace is located in the Capitol District. Hawaii is distinctive in being the only state in the US that has former royal palaces. The magnificent architecture of the Palace and the grandeur of its interior can easily rival many royal palaces in other parts of the world.

Iolani Palace Coronation Pavilion

Iolani Palace, Honolulu

Iolani Palace, Honolulu

Apparently the Iolani Palace served as the capitol building of the State of Hawaii before the opening of the current Hawaii State Capitol, located quite close to the Palace itself.

Hawaii State Capitol, Honolulu

Marking the year when Hawaii became a state of the U.S.

Aloha! Hawaiian spirit on a colourful bus.

Washington Place, residence of the Governor of Hawaii

St. Paul's Church, Honolulu

Cloister of St. Paul's Church, Honolulu

St. Paul's Church, Honolulu

The Cathedral of St. Andrew, Honolulu

Finally, to round off our visit to downtown Honolulu, we passed by a couple of landmarks ---- the Statue of King Kamehameha and the historical Kawaiahao Church.

Statue of King Kamehameha

Statue of King Kamehameha in front of the Aliʻiolani Hale

The historical Kawaiahao Church

After a full day seeing the historic and cultural aspects of Hawaii, we took the by now familiar Bus #2 back to Waikiki. We spent a little time exploring the district, wandering through some of the grand hotels along the beach, before dinner time.