Onomichi is a 40 minute train ride from Hiroshima heading back towards Tokyo. The landscape getting there is decidedly more rural with flooded rice paddies and small fields intensively cropped.
Mountainous hills loom on either sides and the train swoops through the middle of the valleys and the train tunnels go straight through the mountains.
Onomichi is a town of 140,000 and is an honest hard working, everyday seaport, it is not touristy in the least and Europeans were few on the ground today.
The rusty railway tracks act as a boundary on one side of the town and the sea on the other.
The highlight of this wee town is its hilly Temple Walk, behind the railway tracks a cobbled track winds for 2.5 km up and down the hills passing 25 temples on its way. This was Rosie and The Operators aim today….walking this route and enjoying the sunshine and being away from the crowds of the big cities.
The Temple Walk starts right behind the Onomichi train station so, after stowing our bags at our hotel we caught a taxi to the farthest end of the trail and decided to walk back into town. Our lovely driver delivered us straight to the door of Jodoji Temple.
What a pleasure it was visiting quite a big temple away from the cities….there was no one there, it was blissful. Rosie and The Operator wandered around at a nice slow pace taking in the scenery and the view of the sea from the temple gate.
Off we went following the little cobbled path, everything was signposted quite well and we walked up steps and down steep roadways weaving around the hills and through residential areas and housing.
Groups of school kids were doing the walk as well all dressed in their school uniforms, they would walk past us or we would walk past them and they would all wave and say ‘Hello, how are you today’ in their best confidant English, it was quite cool how friendly they were.
No teachers or parents were with them, they had the same map as us and teachers seemed to be waiting at the assigned temples they were to visit to check them off as they arrived.
The locals use these paths too to get to and from their houses perched on the hillside, they all acknowledged us as well. Love it when you get out of the big cities and everyone has a bit more time and is a bit more friendlier.
The vistas from the track was amazing, looking right down into the valley, over back yards and in this case cemetaries too.
Cats were lying in the alleyways along the path in the shade and we were mooching from shady spot to shady spot ourselves as the sun was blistering already at mid morning.
Gliding over our heads was the Sinkojiyama Ropeway, we paid our fee to be shoehorned like sardines into the cable car that took us to the top of Mt Sinkoji and the viewing platform where, below in all her glory lay Onomichi.
Incredible views lay before us, what a beautiful vista along the river and right out to sea. The waterway is the Seto Inland Sea….a huge channel of sea that separates other Japanese islands.
Three quarters into our walk and Rosie was flagging a little in the heat….The Operator commented how the locals were not really capitilising on this walk as their wasnt many cafes and bars along the route for weary pilgrams to rest and rejuvenate. Then like a gift from Buddha a small door to the left said coffee house…coffee wasnt really on our mind, more like a cold beer so in we went ever hopeful.
The owner of this wee coffee house/bar was rugby mad and all ready for the world cup….plus, after our beer we did have a coffee as he was pouring some awesome brews to other punters that had just come in.
Refreshed we pushed on to the final leg, a few more temples and up and down a few more alleyways and we were back at our hotel on the waterfront.
Our last port of call for the day was the Toyota car rental depot. Our journey now takes us a little off the beaten tourist track and it will be more efficient to travel under our own steam by car. Check out our wee Toyota.
It is boxy bliss, so roomy and big feeling inside but still small enough to be able to squeeze anywhere we need to. I must say, none of the rental contracts were in English and the guy at the rental agency spoke 5 words of English….we just signed (goodness knows what) and off we went.
Parked up and all ready for an early start tomorrow we kicked back at our waterside hotel, had a wine and watched the world sail around us. It was a lovely non hectic day spent in the sunshine.
