Matsushima

Day 23

No early rise today. Well, to be true, between the sunlight coming through the window and the youngest screaming downstairs, sleep is not a word I would use for the time I spent in bed between sunrise and 8am.

We set of to Matsushima bay, alleged to be one of the prettiest sites in Japan. We knew the direction of the train but we clearly kept going into trains that were terminating before getting there so, by the time we were asked to change trains a third time, we just decided to get out and walk.

We were close to Shiogama, one of the stops of the Matsushima Bay scenic cruise so we decided to take the boat from there and finish in Matsushima instead of the other way around as initially planned. 

On the way to the port we stopped on a shopping mall. I was desperate for a coffee and of course I thought there had to be a coffee shop in the mall. I briefly forgot we were in Japan, not in Europe. There was a bakery but not a proper coffee shop! Two cold supermarket coffees with an extra coffee sachet eventually did the job

Matsushima Bay is indeed very pretty. It is full of small inhabited islands with pine trees and birds. Some of these islands have funny shapes. There are seaweed and oyster farms in the bay. The cruise had a guide but her english was limited so we got only the basics. She did try though! 

The cruise was maximised to it's full marketing potential. The upper deck was an upgraded area which you had to pay extra to seat. Luckily the boat wasn't full so we managed to get a table by the window on the lower deck. Before the end of the cruise, the guide marketed and sold the products of the bay, mainly the dried seaweed.

On arrival to Matsushima there were several queues of people to board the next boat. It seems we were lucky to have taken the boat on the direction we did.

Matsushima is a small very touristic village. We went to see Zuigan Temple's grounds and it seemed to be a special day. There were priests and monks going around and children playing drums. 

There are two small islands nearby with red bridges connecting them to the bay: Godaibo (so small it only has a shrine) and Fukuurajima.

There is a pedestrian toll to enter Fukuurajima and you walk the island in about an hour. There we saw the biggest concentration of camellias in full bloom so far. It was supposed to have a botanic garden but all we found was a bed with (you know what!) tulips. A very pretty bed I might say.

Look at the sign we found:

Recommendation was to have oysters, apparently smaller but tastier than the ones in Hiroshima Bay. The oyster place our friend recommended was closed so we set off looking for another. The majority of the restaurants on the high street were expensive. You can tell they are making the most of the touristic location! 

We finally found a restaurant on the 1st floor, on top of a cafe, that had all sort of dishes with oysters. We ate well, hot pot of oysters, deep fried oysters and oyster pudding (not sweet, actually savory). My opinion is that they are the same size and taste of the Hiroshima ones.

Train back to Sendai and after a couple more games of Uno with the kids we said goodbye to the family. 

Our friend drove us to the ferry port. I think we tried all sorts of public transportation in this trip, ferry included.

Kitakami ferry is a ferry boat of the Taiheiyo Company. It sailed at 7.40pm but we got there early and could go in from 18h15. From Sendai in Honshu island to Tomakomei in Hokkaido island, the last island we will be visiting. Arrival expected at 11am, 15h20min later.

If bought a month before travel time, ferry tickets are half price. Of course you need to know japanese to buy them so our friend was kind enough to buy them for us. We got B berth beds which are the typical beds you imagine in a boat. We were in a room of 16 beds but there were only about 7 people. The boat was not at full capacity so the trip promised to be a quiet one.

First thing we did was exploring the boat. Although a ferry, it has a cruise feel. We checked out every corner of the boat, discovered a phone booth, a mini-theatre for movies, a games room and a smoker's room. 

Desperately tried to log in to the ships's wifi but Manuel was the only one successful. No staff on board spoke english so we were left to out own devices.

When our curiosity was satisfied we decided to have a bath first. Oh yes, the boat has an onsen type bath. Two indoor baths with outside view, one of them a jacuzzi, plus a sauna. I made the most out of them!

We had bought sushi at the supermarket (pit stop on the way to the port) and had it seating near a window. It was dark so little could be seen, just some dim lights on the horizon.

Jorge's plan is to wake up early to watch the sunrise at sea. That means 4am wake up call. I went straight to bed after dinner. The boys went to watch the evening movie at the mini-theatre.