Holidays to popular places can mean crowds. Kamakura can be one of those places which has so many tourists- anime films and manga stories have brought the crowds, but it’s also real easy to find quiet places which often are just a street away.
Additionally the back streets are quiet and you can find more interesting places that everyone isn’t visiting.
While there are times for the ‘sites’ it’s always important to go off route to explore and find back street gems. As always many thanks for Kym for fabulous searching skills as we experienced a delightful coffee shop where we purchased coffee beans to take home.
We had not been to Enoshima for a number of years, and since then we were on foot we thought it was time for a revisit. Especially as it was due to be a sunny day.
Kym had planned the route for the day. We left early to get the train down (including a couple of changes) to Ofune – with the specific purpose to catch the hanging monorail. Yes folks if you are into public transport this is the place to come. We had caught this last time we visited and had got off at a number of stops and photographed each one (okay mildly excessive).. so this time around we really only needed to enjoy the journey today – which we did. If you do catch this make sure to sit on the right hand side so you have the opportunity to see Mt Fuji.
At the end we rambled down the road, past the Enoden station towards the beach. Here we took a short boat ride to the island for a different experience – and the view (which was in a previous post) was more spectacular.
As Enoshima is an island, there is a path which will take you from one side to the other – just beware there are a lot of stairs both up and down if you come to the island by boat.
We went up to the lookout on the island (also could not remember doing this previously) for the view of Kamakura and Mt Fuji.
We stopped for lunch. shirasu – small whitebait fish is a specialty of the island, which was super tasty.
Afterwards Kym and I shared a croissant x soft serve ice cream (Hokkaido milk flavour) – this definitely should be done more often., but it does need a good croissant as the base.
We had just enough time to dip our feet in the water… it wasn’t too cold either.
After cleaning our feet (hooray for the small towel – if you visit Japan carrying one with you is a must), we ambled to the Enoden station and caught it to Hase station to visit Kotoku-in (Buddhist temple). You can even go inside the statue… so we did (who knows when we will return here).
… next up was a coffee shop stop. Thankfully we had a plan B (plan A was full). Which was a delightful experience, as we all enjoyed a drink and the homemade cakes. Kym even bought some coffee beans it was that enjoyable.
… after a delightful day out we headed for the Enoden to start the journey back to the hotel.
For the next few days we are in Tokyo with friends before we travel back home, and they go on their walking trips. so we are exploring Tokyo by foot and trains.
Going at a different pace is a nice change, and it’s always good to explore the city with friends.
Our brief stop in Seoul is over. This was taken in the lounge, courtesy of our cycling friend reflecting on the fabulous time we had cycling. w
While checking in the person assisting/overseeing staff had a Brompton himself… and our friend also promoted the Brompton rides he does in Tokyo. He was amazed our friend was travelling with his bike without a case.
The last few days have been great in exploring the capital and the cycling paths (and not-so-good paths) and the back streets.
Here’s to being back in a slightly warmer climate… and not having to wear 6 layers!
They say it’s not cold, it’s just wrong clothing choices. I will remind myself of that later this morning….
By the way, apologies for typos. Sometimes I’m not wearing my glasses, or the auto-spell word is selected, meaning I haven’t read it again. Kym always picks me up on this…. Can’t have everything!
We were near the end of the 42+km ride today and we had departed the rivers we had been following and moved to the back streets of Inchon winding our way to the train station. Suddenly there it was – a coffee shop and a fancier place on the corner of the intersection we were passing through – so of course Kym stopped.
Once we had parked our bikes (as. Lose as possible to the building) opening the door – the smell of better permeating the place was heaven. Kym then used google translate to read the labels and we choose something each and a drink. It was completely perfect. The presentation of the drinks and food.. was delightful. This is it we had reached the perfect South Korean afternoon coffee/drink experience.
Some time ago I had discovered a show on Netflix called “would you like a cup of coffee?” about a young South Korean man who changes his life course after having a amazing cup of coffee, and learns about making coffee – but also customer service. Not sure what streaming service it’s on, but we do recommend watching the show.
This reminded me of that show (including the background music). The shop owner even invited us to have more water with the lemonade to reduce the sweetness, and gave us an extra biscuit – ah. Perfect. This reminds us of the beauty of cycling back streets, and why it’s important to always explore and never just stick to the main route – you never know what you will find.
…and if you are ever Inchon look for a shop called Millo.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged where there is a separated pedestrian and cyclist path, both will use the one not designated for their transport mode.
I have experienced this many times this week (and today) but I was polite and did not take photos of this happening! Please enjoy a couple of photos from today’s 42+km ride instead.
There have only been a few instances of where we were on the wrong side when other vehicles have also been approaching – “Kym get on the right side…”. Thankfully we are avoiding all diplomatic incidents.
