長崎弁で，歩いて回ることをさるくといいます。この方言をテーマに取り入れたイベント「長崎さるく」が長崎には根付いていて，観光客のみならず，市民の楽しみの一つにもなっています。基本的には，長崎の史跡や文化について詳しい方がガイドをしながら，みなで「さるく」というものですが，最近では，これに多少のアレンジが加わり，さらに魅力的なイベントになってきています。今回参加したのは「ランチさるく」というものでした。これは「長崎さるく」を立ち上げた桐野さんという方自らが，セトレグラバーズホテル長崎と連携して行っておられるイベントです。
In Nagasaki, we have a dialect word “saruku” which means “walk around”. An event called “Nagasaki Saruku” has firmly rooted in Nagasaki city and it has become the joys not only of tourists but also of citizens. The event usually takes place in a way that a guide who knows about historical sites or the culture of Nagasaki shows around the participants in the event. Recently, it becomes more attractive event with some good ideas. An event I joined this time was called “Lunch Saruku”. This is an event held by a man named Kirino, who is the very person that started “Nagasaki Saruku”, in association with Setre Glover’s Hotel Nagasaki.
午前11時にホテルに集合し，東山手と呼ばれる一帯を，オランダ坂や東山手１２番館，そして孔子廟とさるきました。この間，桐野さんが豊富な知識と巧みな話術で楽しませてくださいました。ここまでは通常のさるくですが，ちょうどおなかが空いたこの時点でホテルに戻り「香茶コーディネーター」による緑茶や紅茶の紹介，実演を交えた喫茶＆ランチを楽しんだのでした。「香茶コーディネーター」は本田さなえさんというまだお若い方でしたが，自ら県内のお茶農家に茶葉を買い付けに行き，泊まり込みで実際の収穫にも関わるほどの熱意をもって仕事をされている方でした。シェフはセトレグラバーズハウスの料理長中村直人さんという方でした。ランチは地元の食材を使ったコースになっていて，一品毎にシェフが来られて，丁寧に紹介してくださっていました。料理はもちろん，それに合わせて出されるお茶がまたすばらしく，大変満足しました。参加費は4000円でしたが，それ以上の価値がありました。他にもいろいろな企画があるようで楽しみです。
We assembled at the hotel at eleven o’clock in the morning, and then we walked around an area called Higashi Yamate, stopping by Oranda Zaka, the house at No. 12 Higashi Yamate, and the Mausoleum of Kong Zi. Mr. Kirino entertained us with his great store of knowledge and fantastic skill at telling stories during all that time. If the event finished at that point, it was just an ordinary Saruku, but after that, it was just when we really felt hungry, we could enjoy tea and lunch back in the hotel with a lady introduced as “fragrant tea coordinator” serving some teas and green teas, even demonstrating how to do that. The “fragrant tea coordinator” was a young lady named Honda Sanae who was so enthusiastic about her job that she visited some tea farmers in Nagasaki prefecture and bought tea leaves by herself, and she even stayed overnight there to help with the harvest. The chef was named Nakamura Naoto, the chief cook in Setre Glover’s Hotel. The lunch was a four-course meal using local ingredients, and the chef came to make a comment politely each time a course was served. The dishes are of course fantastic, and besides, teas which were served with each course meal were really good and made me so happy. The entry fee was four thousand yen but this event was worth more than that. There seems to be other projects they are planning so I’m looking forward to them.
