Backpacking through central Japan
24 MARCH - 9 APRIL 2016
DAY 1-2
Zurich - Tokyo
After days spent packing in anticipation of my move to Zurich, finally comes the time to prepare the suitcases, or rather, the backpacks. That's right. I still don't know why, but it seems that a year ago (when we had to cancel this travel because of a ski-accident) I had been convinced that filling trekking backpacks instead of comfortable trolleys, with a quantity of clothes that barely would have been enough for me to spend the weekend, in favor of mountain boots and windbreakers, was a wonderful idea.
And so, with 9 kg on my shoulders, in my brand new blue backpack, and 13 kg on Nic’s, in the afternoon we go by train to the airport of Zürich. First stop in Doha, where we will spend the night thanks to a nice online booking agency that has assigned us a different flight from the one chosen. Secret of adulthood: always book from the airlines official websites! If an offer is too advantageous to be true, it is probably not so. Waiting to be tired enough to sleep on the uncomfortable armchairs of the airport, we browse through the shops of dates and dried fruit and treat ourselves to a midnight snack based on hummus and tabuleh.
At 7 a.m. we embark for Tokyo. The flight is very long and we try to sleep as much as possible in view of the late evening arrival in Japan, where we plan to spend a sleepless night, wandering around the city until 3 a.m., when we can go to reserve a place to attend the famous tuna auction in Tsukiji fish market.
The night passes in a not too pleasant way, weakened by the cold and the tiredness, walking calmly towards the fish market. We huddle up for more than an hour in one of the 24-hour bars that seem to be very common in Tokyo, where many Japanese sleep happily with their faces on the table next to an empty bowl of ramen. It looks like a Japanese fast food restaurant and so we venture, without being able to communicate with the owners, to choose a meal from the illustrated menu. We are served what looks like an omelette stuffed with rice and a soba soup, very inviting except for the semi-raw egg that floated inside.
Not too restored but at least warmed up, we take back the backpack, which seems to weigh 20 kg more, and head towards the market, arriving well in advance of the "presumed" opening time of the registrations, before 3. Registration cannot be made in advance and is done on a first come first served base. Happy to have found the entrance indicated on the guide without any problems, we go on until we are stopped by a nice man in uniform who, with his arms crossed, babbles something in Japanese, showing us a sign where in English (so to speak) there is written that the registration for the auction have already been closed because the seats are sold out.
I can't say if I was more tired or desperate at this point; we observed the many tourists who, like us, were sent home and after digesting the news, we decided to console ourselves with a breakfast of fresh sushi. Queuing with other poor desperate people evicted from the Tsukiji market, we waited 2 hours standing in front of what promised to be the best sushi restaurant in Tokyo.
BREAKFAST: Daiwa Sushi
When our legs were barely holding us and almost frozen, finally the restaurant opens at 5:30, and we are welcomed in a tiny room just over the counter, with 6 seats around the area where the 3 cooks wisely waved their Santoku knives to prepare the fresh sushi. Hoping to spend a couple of hours there to rest, warm up and get closer to the time when we could have gone to check in at the hotel, we begin to eat the fixed menu prepared by our chef. We are not allowed to choose what to eat, but the cook declares incomprehensible names that should make us understand what was about to be served.
With very quick gestures the cook would just as quickly place pieces of sushi on our plate, with every possible variety of fish on top: shrimp, cuttlefish, sea urchin (surprisingly delicious), amberjack, sword, tuna and any other sea creatures that could come to the mind. Not even the time to breathe between one bite and another, and we are kindly invited to get up from our sits and proceed to the old lady who, at the end of the table, collects the price of breakfast, to make room for others in the queue. Sushi is really great, but if you're luckier than us we suggest you plan this visit to an hour of the day more suitable to ingest large quantities of raw fish in a short period of time.
On foot, we arrive, after a long walk, to the hotel, and not being able to check in at that time, we leave the backpacks and a little 'lighter we head, not so cheerfully, to the center, full of (negative) energy to finally begin to honor the program that we had in mind. First stop, the Imperial Palace of Tokyo. Immediately we immerse ourselves in what will be the constant of the journey, an immense queue for the entrance consisting of only Japanese, or rather, only elderly Japanese, with whom we enter, through a garden of pine trees, within the walls of the palace. It turns out to be a pleasant walk in the green, even if we see very few buildings around.
Once we have reached the northern exit of the garden, we decide to head towards the Kagurazaka district. It is a commercial district, with shops and businesses in low houses lined up on a hill. To reach this district, strictly on foot to enjoy every corner of the city, we cross an area where one begins to recognize the first signs of spring, although we are very disappointed by the lack of flowers that dot the cherry trees, still bare from the winter.
The Japanese, however, seem not to pay too much attention, since, regardless of the precociousness of the Hanami around, fill every green corner of the city where there are food stands designed to brighten up the festivities on the occasion of Spring.
We huddle in one of these, where we are fascinated by the variety of exotic foods that are cooked in a very spartan way: from this fair of culinary oddities, we enter a temple, where we are lucky enough to attend a wedding procession in traditional costumes. We then enter Kagurazaka, browsing the shops of Kimono, sweets and tea, and after a stop in a temple at the top of the hill, we head to Akihabara, the neighborhood known to be the destination of fans of manga and electronics.
The expectations do not disappoint at all, since as soon as we turn the corner, at the threshold of the neighborhood, we are catapulted into a pinball of people who crowd the streets between the shops located in tall buildings, one more colorful than the other, covered with bright signs full of Japanese writings and manga-scenes. Electronics shops, arcades with tons of video games and, above all, devices with mechanical arms to collect all sorts of prizes, which resonate with the deafening music that also animates the streets of the city.
Disoriented by the confusion of that place, and stunned by the music, the neon lights and the hundreds of people around us, we decide it's time to go to rest for a few hours in the hotel. We reach on foot our accommodation, crossing a very nice neighborhood that I propose to go and visit after a well-deserved afternoon nap.
We arrive at the hotel at 3:30 p.m. and we settle in our tiny but cozy room, we abandon ourselves to sleep, with the wake-up alarm pointed at 6:30. Needless to say, we have not even heard the echo of these alarms, and after a quick look at the clock at 11:00 p.m., we fall back into sleep until the next morning, when we wake up ready to explore and without even the shadow of the jet lag.
HOTEL: Hotel Hokke Inn Nihonbashi
DAY 3
Tokyo
First of all we reach the station, for the exchange of the Japan Rail Pass, with which we will freely take almost all the trains of Japan, to move from one place to another even in the city. Once we get our Pass, we take the train that will bring us to the first stop of the day, the Shinjuku district.
At the exit of the subway, we are greeted by the delicious pink traffic dividers of Hello Kitty that leave us fascinated, and we head towards the most peripheral area of the neighborhood, where the imposing government buildings stand out.
Apart from a few contemporary skyscrapers, the 70's buildings that dot the area, isolated and quiet, are gigantic austere buildings: a slightly dark atmosphere reigns here with those those very high constructions, with few windows, all small and closed, surrounded by other identical buildings, gray and tall, that close the view of the rest of the city. We go back to the station, where we enter to go to the lower floor, used as a department store where we browse through the odd edibles for sale. Walking south we head to Yoyogi Park, where we visit a large temple and attend a ceremony in traditional costumes.
At the edge of the park we head towards the Olympic stadium designed by Kenzo Tange and sit in a park to rest, surrounded by cherry trees just slightly in bloom and by Japanese inebriated by hanami (and sake) that lie on the sheets that cover the entire lawn to accommodate the spring picnics. We taste some takoyaki, spherical octopus pancakes, and after having been refreshed we head to the Omotesando district. The area is full of people, and we stroll around calmly as we admire the architectural wonders of this road lined with boutiques by many world-renowned architects.
The walk along the shopping street takes us to the end of our day in Shibuya, where we carve out a panoramic spot in a Starbucks on the second floor of a building that offers a privileged view of the intersection defined as the most crowded of people in the world. It's a big crossroads with all-directions-zebra crossing, where the pedestrian traffic lights all shoot at the same time on the green, and a wild stream of people go from side to side at every crossing. We end the day in a gyoza-cafè in Omotesando, where we eat steamed, grilled and rice ravioli, which are truly exceptional.
DINNER: Harajuku Gyoza Lou
DAY 4
Tokyo - Nikko
Last day in Tokyo, early in the morning we head to the district of Asakusa. Just a few steps in the neighborhood to understand that we are in a typical area for the workshops of Japanese knives. We are convinced to buy one, but after browsing some shops, we decide to better inform ourselves about the types, given the wide choice at not too cheap prices. We arrive, walking through the deserted alleys, at the temple Senso-Ji, the largest Shinto temple in Tokyo, really impressive and beautiful, with a nice Japanese garden with a brook with carps. From here, walking in a street full of characteristic shops, we return to the heart of the neighborhood, consuming some delicious street food.
The Asakusa district is really picturesque, finally a "Japanese" corner of Tokyo, which seems, instesad, totally detached from the traditional architectural culture. Again a short stop in the park of Ueno, another of the recommended places to admire the Hanami, which also here seems not to have even passed by yet. Finally, I drag Nic to admire the masterpiece of Japanese Metabolism: the Nakagin capsule hotel by Kisho Kurokawa, which unlike the one on the architecture books, is actually a frightening dilapidated concrete building, but also a must-see curiosity.
On the way to the hotel, we stop at the Matsuya department store, distractedly browsing the Ginza district, where we buy a bento box to be consumed on arrival at the hotel in Nikko, our next stop. Hotel, backpacks, race to the station and wait for the train that will lead us to Nikko.
A futuristic Shinkasen with a tapered snout arrives at the track, all passengers get off at the end of the line and the doors are barricaded by a cleaning team that cleans the train in a few minutes before letting the new travelers on. At the end of the cleaning, the staff go out in line on the platform, they all address the waiting passengers, and bow in unison. We get lost at the entrance not knowing that in Japan, on the platform, there are bands painted on the floor in which to queue for the designated cabin or, for those like us who are without a seat booked, to queue to try to get a free sit.
We arrive in Nikko late in the evening, and we walk to the hotel, a traditional ryokan this time. Once in the room we explore the first of the Japanese style rooms in which we will stay. We arm ourselves with yukata, the house-kimono, and we also go for our first bath in the private onsen of the hotel: strictly separated for men and women, it is a room with a stone bath pool and boiling water that creates a cloud of steam all around, in the environment where the ladies cleanse themselves before going to sleep.
HOTEL: Nikko Tokinoyuu
DAY 5
Nikko - Yudanaka Onsen
Ready to have breakfast and head for Nikko's temple hill. The town is small, and the houses of little interest, but entering the forest that houses the temples you can immediately feel the beauty of the place. It is a mountain covered with cedars that houses a dozen temples, more or less majestic of which we visit some, remaining really fascinated, especially by the memorial tombstones, which contribute to the mystical air of the place.
Fortunately we arrive at a time in the morning when the crowds of tourists still do not invade the area and we could enjoy this beautiful place in peace. After visiting the main temples, we head to the most unique place of Nikko, called Kanmangafuchi Abyss. It is a walk that follows the river and a big ghostly cemetery, flanked by a row of hundreds of kami, shinto divinities in stone covered with lichens and adorned with pretty hats and red lapels.
Returning from the abyss, we take a stroll through the city, browsing through antique shops, before heading to the station to catch the train that would take us to Yudanaka. After a couple of train changes, we arrive in Yudanaka. The village is very small and we find the hotel right away. This is an extremely welcoming luxury ryokan. The room is very big, with two huge futons and two sitting rooms with tatami. We decide first of all to look for a place to dine, which is indicated to us by the concierge.
This is an izakaya just a few steps from our accommodation, distinct from normal homes only by a red curtain and lantern. We enter, and the place is at the right level of carelessness for cleanliness and aesthetics to seem like an authentic Japanese gem. The owner is an old man who speaks English very well, as opposed to 99% of the rest of the population, and illustrates the menu, strictly equipped with photos of the dishes, which this time looks more like an album of photographs, all systematically blurred. So we trust his advice, and he serves us a huge squid, cooked on a grill on the counter where we also sat, grilled ravioli and a giant bowl of soba. Everything was exceptionally good, and not too expensive.
We return to the hotel, ready for the bath in the onsen, which this time we had booked private, outdoor, on the roof of the ryokan. There is a small wooden wellness area, with loungers to relax, on the top floor, from which you can enjoy a view of the valley (unfortunately dark and poorly lit late at night). Outside, two pools, one in cast iron and one in wood, both at very high temperatures, but that go well with the cool of the evening.
DINNER: Ichidaya | HOTEL: Hotel Tsubakino
DAY 6
Yudanaka Onsen - Uozu
In the morning, we enjoy the fist strictly Japanese breakfast of our holiday. They make us sit in a room with tatami, barefoot, at a low table on which is laid a series of bowls, micro-bowls, braziers and other various tools, with quite strange content. They bring us some rice, matcha tea and fish to cook ourselves on a small brazier, a soup with tofu that heats up over a flame, while we taste all the various dishes scattered on the table: pickled vegetables of various kinds, fish, raw eggs, tofu, miso soup... and other things exotic enough to be unrecognizable.
After a hearty meal, we leave the hotel for the monkey park: it is a natural reserve where Japanese macaques live, which in the cold seasons are the only monkeys in the world to bathe in the hot thermal waters of the onsen. Obviously, after 4 days of polar cold, this is the only one in which a beautiful warm sun shines, and although the park is full of monkeys, there is no way to see one take a bath. Just before we leave, one of them enters the onsen to collect some seeds, and it's the only time we enjoy this unusual habit. Having the free monkeys around has been still picturesque, and we're happy to get back on the road to the bus.
The evening stop is Uozu, on the Gulf of Toyama. We make a detour to the route to go and visit Matsumoto, where there is one of the 3 original wooden castles that survived in Japan. Unfortunately there is not the possibility to enter because of the late hour, but the building, even from the outside, is really fascinating. Snack with a purple bean carp-shaped biscuit, and off we go again on the train. In Toyama, before taking the last connection, we dine in an izakaya at the station, with rice and tempura of local mini shrimps. Once in the hotel, we go to the onsen, as usual now.
HOTEL: Uozu Manten Hotel Ekimae
DAY 7
Uozu - Shirakawa-go
The day begins as it ended, on the train to Kanazawa, where we have to stop to take the bus to the village of Shirakawa-go.
To fill the missing time to the departure of the bus, we head to the city center to go and visit the XXI Century Museum of SANAA. The building is really beautiful, and we take a walk in the areas with free circulation. Some of the works of art on display also arouse our curiosity, like a swimming pool, in an open courtyard, in which, underwater, we could see visitors from the lower level walking, as if they were in the bottom of the pool. Unfortunately, time is short, and there is no possibility to enter and visit the museum. Then we take back the street of the station, passing however from the park of the city palace, a really enormous garden, in which we enjoy a pleasant walk accompanied by a black sesame and green tea ice cream.
At the end of the morning we go to take the bus that will bring us in the village of Shirakawa-go. Arrived to the destination we remain really fascinated from this place, a small agglomerate of houses called Gass-o, in wood, with roofs in straw almost a meter thick, that finally give us an idea of the traditional Japan. It's a shame that there are so many tourists, but we take a walk through the narrow streets and visit one of these buildings inside. With the idea of taking a bus that has been indicated to us by the tourist office, directed to our lodging, we wait 5 p.m. browsing among the shops of souvernirs, and then head to the stop, or better, to the place in which theoretically it would have had to be the stop, that, walking and walking, we never find.
On the other hand, after a long walk, we stumble upon our accommodation. It is the only hostel that we booked on this holiday, because the traditional accommodation in the village are very expensive and above all, always full. We ask for information in a hostel where one could go to dinner in this deserted village. The only place open in the whole village is an izakya where at eight o'clock in the evening dinner is almost over, and we sit in the place of honor on the tatami, all for us. We have a good dinner with soba and yakitori, as well as a portion of sake drunk from a wooden cube impregnated with alcohol.
We go home at 9 p.m. and it seems a good idea to go to bed considering that there is no life in the village after 5 in the afternoon.
HOTEL: Guesthouse Ant Hut
DAY 8
Shirakawa-go - Kyoto
We leave our shelter to return to the village and take the bus to Takayama. We walk up to the top of one of the nearby mountains, enjoy the view of the village from above, and leave after taking advantage of the opportunity to take a walk between the houses, this time without tourists.
We arrive late in the morning at Takayama. Finally, we find a village worthy of Japan, with a neighborhood full of traditional dark wood houses, sake factories within which we can 'browse, managing to see the beautiful internal structure of these buildings, and antiques shops where we buy ceramics and some Japanese prints. Today's lunch was worth remembering, since we decided to spend a little more to taste the famous Kobe beef. It is a particular meat, produced with steers that are pampered, massaged and fed with beer, to obtain a tender meat, which is marbled with fat and cooked on a Korean grill, as we did, is really tender and delicious. A unique flavor that was certainly worth theprice.
We take the train and head to Kyoto where, finally, after days spent with heavy backpacks on our shoulders, we will have a little break from the nomadism of the last 3 days. We arrive late in the evening, and we waste some time snooping around in the station building, really huge and spectacular at night, with the immense staircase illuminated with plays of light. We grasp the last bento box of sushi from the supermarket and a few sweets in a bakery, and we head on foot to our accommodation. We already like this city at first glance: it doesn't look like the unkempt and anonymous Tokyo's neighborhoods, and finally you can breathe some Japanese flavour even in a metropolis. Everything seems extremely well taken care of, even the poorest houses, and everything is delightfully lit, especially on the particularly elegant lower floors.
After a long walk we finally reach our accommodation, a private apartment on the seventh floor of a modern concrete building, with a wonderful view from the huge windows.
DAY 9
Kyoto
Morning of exploring Kyoto! We've been looking into the characteristics of Japanese knives and we're searching for a craft shop near the market. We arrive at the Nishiki market before the opening and take a walk under the coloured skylights while the sellers still set up the stalls. After seeing enough fish oddities, we decide it's time to look for the knife shop we had chosen, but we find it closed, of course. There doesn't seem to be any chance of it opening, and so we fall back on another knife shop, more commercial but very well stocked where we finally get two expensive and sharp handcrafted knives. We walk through the streets of the center browsing in the most special stores, like a lovely store dedicated only to bento boxes. We attend some spring-dedicated street performances, with dancers and characters in typical costumes.
KNIFE SHOP: Aritsugu
Today we visit an area of temples to the west of the city, in Higashiyama, where finally begin to see the much-needed cherry trees in bloom. We also have the opportunity to visit the interior of a temple with a Zen garden, in a very large temple complex, surrounded by greenery. From here we head back to the center through the so-called Path of the Philosophers, which leaves us speechless. Here the hanami has really arrived: the low channel that runs along this road, too small for the unimaginable amount of people who crowded it, is flanked for all 5 km by cherry trees in full bloom. Except for the crowd, it's really a beautiful place.
We reach the center again, where we stumble almost by chance in the district Ponto-Cho, a network of streets full of local restaurants, but above all, even more full of cherry trees in bloom. Also here a beautiful channel with low waters divides to half all the roads and is surrounded by cherry trees in an explosion of white and pink flowers: in the darkness, purposely illuminated, they are really fabulous.
The dinner tonight was recommended by our guest: the best tempura restaurant in Kyoto. The wait is worth the dinner, obviously sitting at the counter, where we eat two baskets full of shrimp tempura, squid, various vegetables, really exceptional, crispy and light.
CENA: Komefuku
DAY 10
Kyoto
After leaving our backpacks in a locker of the station to free the apartment, with a short train ride, we head to the Inari-Taisha, a Buddhist temple famous for its 8 km long walk under an uninterrupted row of vermilion torii, which unfolds in the middle of a cedar forest up the mountain. Here, too, the only problem is the people, who dampen the mystical charm of the place. But when you can find a deserted bend, the expanse of orange torii is really impressive.
We return to the city, where with a very long walk, with a stop in the largest shinthoist temple of Kyoto, we reach the district of Gion, famous for being populated by Geisha and Maiko (the Geisha of Kyoto). This district is really nice, and there are some alleys where there are no people, to be able to appreciate its beauty. The afternoon is dedicated to a Geisha-show in the neighborhood theater, the Miyako-Odori. It is a mix of dances and songs, with a sung theatrical performance in which dozens of Maiko move with impressive grace and precision, using their kimonos and fans to interpret the songs.
The afternoon was peppered with waiting to receive news from our evening guest. We have to change apartment, and we booked a second one through Airbnb. Our guest was supposed to write us the details to get to the place and access his house, but repeated emails and phone calls have been systematically ignored in the last two days. At 5 p.m., we decide to contact Airbnb customer service, who tells us that they will try until the end of the day to contact the user, after which, eventually, we will be refunded an accommodation that we will have to find to make up for the abandonment by our guest.
With the anxiety of not having a roof over our head for the night, we still take a walk in Gion, and in the evening we return to admire the canals adorned with sakuras in Ponto-cho. We dine in a traditional restaurant where we eat tempura and soba, before receiving news from customer service, which failed to contact the guest. After several attempts we are able to book perhaps the last room left free in Kyoto, and the only one at a price consistent with what we would be reimbursed by Airbnb.
Relieved, but very tired, since we had to wait until midnight to receive this news, we go to the station to get the backpacks, and we arrive at the hotel. Despite the high price, it is a very old hotel, which is not worth the money spent, although at least it is a traditional ryokan.
HOTEL: Hotel Sugicho
DAY 11
Kyoto
We have a Japanese breakfast, and we go for a walk in the park of the imperial palace, which is however closed to the public. After a visit to a temple, we head towards the station to reach, just outside Kyoto, the Arashiyama forest.
This place is magnificent, you are immersed in a tunnel surrounded by a dense forest of centuries-old bamboos, a deep emerald green, very different from any other place we have ever seen. We consume, in an equipped area, the gyoza-box wisely purchased in the department stores in the station, and we walk through the area admiring the view of the hills dotted with flowering cherry trees.
Back in the center, we go for dinner in a restaurant with sushi-belt, where we are really satisfied given the small price paid, despite the restaurant was not aesthetically very rewarding. We decide to go back to take a walk in the district of Maiko, where we have the good fortune to see two who went out with their customers from a tea-house. It's really strange to see this aspect of Japanese culture, so far from our traditions.
DINNER: Musashi Sushi
DAY 12
Kyoto - Koya-san
Today we go to Mount Koya. The journey is long, and we spend most of the day to reach this place, where a tiny village has arisen around a cluster of more than 100 Buddhist temples. We will stay in a temple, where we are welcomed by monks who show us our beautiful accommodation. The atmosphere is very special.
We spend a few hours walking through a cemetery that leads to the shrine of Kobo-Daishi, the founder of this sacred place. This cemetery is incredible: the spectral air given by the stone tombs that dot the whole valley and the small hills around, is accentuated by the vegetation of centuries-old cedars, incredibly large, all flooded with a bright green moss and lichens. Back from the cemetery, we walk in the village until we reach the last temples, and we return on time for dinner, at 18:30.
We go to dine in yukata and with a heavy woolen overcoat. The place of the dinner is beautiful, a row of tables for couples, separated by wooden screens, on tatami and surrounded by walls of painted paper. Really a wonderful atmosphere, for what will be a great vegetarian meal, with lots of tempura, fruit and dessert. We dedicate the evening to the onsen and to rest, as the next morning at 5 a.m. we are expected for the prayer with the monks.
HOTEL: Shojoshin-in
DAY 13
Koya-san - Kumano Kodo
As scheduled, we wake up at 4:30 a.m. and prepare to attend the prayer. Unfortunately, contrary to my expectations, we are only spectators of a prayer of 3 monks who continuously sing with a baritone voice the prayers written on their sacred book. Very suggestive, but I would have preferred them to involve us in the ceremonial. Just before the end, we run for breakfast so as not to miss the bus that will take us to the beginning of what should have been 3 days of uninterrupted trekking on the trails of Kumano Kodo, an ancient pilgrimage path between the mountains of the peninsula of Nara, to the southern coast.
We reach the beginning of the route, which today is quite short and involves a few hours of walking to get to our first accommodation. The route planned by Nic, however, turns out to be wrong, and we manage to reach the place in which we will stay, where we arrive after only a little more than an hour's walk. We decide to relax then, take a bath and rest a little before dinner that will be prepared by our guests. We read that the husband of the lady who runs the minshuku (the guesthourse) was a cook in a restaurant, and the reviews on meals are promising.
Indeed, the dinner does not disappoint, it is Kaiseki cuisine, Japanese haute-cuisine, and everything, from tuna sashimi, to vegetarian curry, steamed vegetables, to sweet sorbet at the end, is really exceptional.
HOTEL: Minshuku Tsugizakura
DAY 14
Kumano Kodo
Like dinner, breakfast is also very good and there is also a packed lunch for us. The day doesn't look good at all as there is a flood outside, and we gear up with the raincoat and wrapped backpacks to try anyway to proceed with our trekking program. We soon realize that it rains too much to be able to continue on the uneven paths in the woods, and completely soaked, even under the waterproof covers, we continue to the bus stop that should take us to Wataze, a thermal location near the one in which we will have to stay, which has a famous outdoor onsen.
We have to wait for the bus for more than half an hour in the rain, with the heavy backpacks on, and when we get to the onsen and we can undress and dive in the warm waters, it's like a mirage. The onsen is fabulous, the part for the women has a huge indoor pool with water at I-do-not-know-how-many thousands of degrees of temperature, from which you can access the outdoor pools, all at different temperatures, but really impressive, with steam coming out of the water at the cold of the outside air. Being immersed in the thermal water with the rain that beats is really relaxing and pleasant. We reluctantly dress up after an hour, and walk back to our accommodation in Yunomine Onsen.
Tired dead we reach the hotel at the top of a hill, as if we did not have enough already. This is a very unattractive concrete eco-monster, but the interior is very elegant and our room overlooking the valley is lovely. We eat just half of the packed lunch, in anticipation of the evening fast, considering that the village is very small and has no places to eat, and we go to enjoy the onsen of our hotel. We spend the afternoon in the hotel, watching the pouring rain outside and our clothes spinning in the dryer hoping to recover something to wear.
HOTEL: Yunominesou
DAY 15
Kumano Kodo
In the morning, we take the bus to reach the place where we should have started a boat tour with a traditional boat along the river that would lead us to the coast. At the destination, we find a couple of men who tell us, trough the translator of the phone, that the tour was canceled because the rains of the previous days have swollen the waters. So we are forced to be accompanied to the temple of Shingu by car, from where we will then take the train to go to Nachi, the next stop of our Kumano Kodo, reduced to the bone.
We go to Kii-Katsuura, where we leave our luggage in the hotel (very nice, but with a room that has the size of the closet of the last accommodation) and then we take the train to Nachi. From here, a long walk in the woods, leads us to the final destination of our "tiring" pilgrimage, the Nachi Taisha, a temple located at the top of a mountain, with several red buildings dotting the ridge, next to a high waterfall.
As a small consolation, we walk the last piece of the Kumano Kodo, up to a panoramic point on the surrounding hills. We are planning a dinner, booked in the afternoon, based on the famous local tuna, in an anonymous restaurant in the port (literally without a sign). The dinner paid off the disappointment of the day, with fresh tuna prepared in all variations: breaded, fried, sashimi, sushi, sweet and sour ... whatever comes to mind.
HOTEL: Onsen Minshuku Kosakaya | DINNER: Maguro Teishoku
DAY 16
Kumano Kodo - Tokyo - Zurich
Last day of our long journey, we take the train to Tokyo and spend the morning travelling. The journey to Nagoya is a pleasant one, where we conquer the place behind the driver, with a panoramic window on the train's route. Once in Tokyo, we take a stroll through the city in search of some last souvenirs, and to collect the last confectionery delicacies and the last boxes of gyoza of our journey, which we will consume during the journey to the airport, before boarding again to go home.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it!
