We woke this morning to a very bleak day but thankfully not cold. Today we are docked at Shimizu and this city lies in the shadow of magnificent Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately she (the mountain is a she) was very shy today and well hidden amongst the clouds.
Last night we filled out a room service breakfast menu so that we could enjoy the morning without rushing. We ordered way too much but were grateful for it when we didn't get back from tour for lunch until almost 2pm.
The tour we chose was "Mt Fuji highlights" that included a visit to the 17th century Fujisan Hongu Sengen Taisha Shrine. The drive to the Shrine on a clear day would have been spectacular. We passed through many villages where tea is the main source of income and in fact the green tea grown in this area makes up almost half of the tea grown in Japan.
It was really raining hard by the time we reached the Shrine so we didn't see it in it's best light. However, it was lovely to see the Wisteria in full bloom beside the pond that surrounded the Shrine. The shrine itself looks almost identical to the ones we saw in Tokyo with the massive gate leading to the shrine that sits in a courtyard surrounded by smaller buildings.
We took the "scenic" drive back to the port, zig zagging through some beautiful valleys. The Japanese certainly know how to build a road. Check out this highway that we drove on, that is hundreds of metres above the ground!
Surprisingly the best viewing point for Mt. Fuji is at the beach. Not the sort of beach that we Australians know though with its black sand. To get to to this point we walked around 500metres along a pine tree lined boardwalk. We were shown a pine tree that was around 400 years old.
Of course we couldn't see Mt Fuji but our tour guide kindly gave us a photograph of what we should have seen. It would have been amazing.
No comments:
Post a Comment