Day 8 Kochi, Japan

I was a bit apprehensive about the tour we had selected today - Ryugado Cave and Kochi Castle.  We were told that there were around 800 steps to negotiate at the cave and another 100 at the castle.  Thank goodness the steps at the cave were not like the ones in Western Australia where we had to descend 300 steps and return the same way.  This was a lot more gentle and really only one long section of stairs. 

We were left a little underwhelmed by Ryugado Cave.  We have seen many more spectacular but I guess the unusual part of this cave was the length we had to walk inside the cave (more and 1km) and sometimes almost crawl, and the very narrow passageways that we had to negotiate.  It was far more natural than a lot of others.

We stayed at the cave for around 90 minutes that gave us ample time to explore the area.  After we were all back on board the bus it took us around 45 minutes to get to our next destination - Kochi Castle.  By the time we arrived here the rain had really set in and our guide gave us the option of staying on the bus if we didn't want to walk up the 100 wet and slippery steps to the castle.  We decided to keep going and actually the guide found a better way to get to the top, along a gravel pathway, without so many steps.  Once we arrived at the castle we all had to take off our shoes and walk through the castle in our socks.  

The castle is six stories high and very impressive. It was built by Yamauchi Katsutoyo in 1601 and has been re-built many times due to various reasons - flood, fire to name a couple.  Inside the castle are lots of displays showing the history of the castle.  It would take a long time to read all the literature by the visual displays were very interesting.

To get from one floor to another you had to climb a very steep wooden ladder.  Not for the faint hearted I can tell you.  The timber ladder is slippery underfoot with only socks on your feet!  But it was worth the climb to see the views from the top.

We were back on board by 1.30 and we had quite the welcome.  Our ship - Seven Seas Voyager - holds a maximum of 700 people and is fully booked for this cruise.