Takamatsu

Takamatsu was our next stop after Shodoshima. This is a big port city on the north east of Shikoku. I had booked us four nights here, thinking it would be a good base for day trips. Hindsight is 20/20 and we didn't need that long here and the day trips through the wind-y mountains were not worth it for one day. Alas! 

Colourful man-hole cover in Takamatsu

I think after the slower pace in Shodoshima, we were also ready for a bit more get up and go. Maybe I didn't research enough too. On top of that, after the super comfortable stay in our Shodoshima house, the AirBnB in Takamatsu was a little disappointing, which probably coloured our view of things too. We still "made the most of it". 

Anyway, we went to the top of Mt Yashima for some views and nature, which was fun. There was a temple there, which we walked around, and then a random art gallery too. The views were nice, though the day was a bit rainy. The girls saw lots of dangomushi, bugs that curl up into balls when they are scared, and the cicada were out in full force. So loud! 

Then we went down to Shikoku Village, which is an open air museum of old Japanese houses. It had a very cool vine bridge to walk over, which was stressful for the girls, but cool to do. 

The village had lots of displays of traditional style Japanese houses which were fascinating to see and was surrounded by beautiful forests at the base of the mountain. 

It also included another random art gallery and this interesting step/waterfall installation in one section. You could walk all the way through it, and the water was fascinating to see flowing over the different sections. So noisy though! 

This second water feature was much more traditional style and peacefully surrounded by nature. 

After that, we took a drive out to see the Naruto Whirlpools off the coast of Tokushima Prefecture. These are naturally occurring whirlpools that happen because the ocean on either side of the coast are flowing in opposite directions and crashing on rocks and what not. We walked out on that huge bridge. The top is for cars, and underneath is an enclosed walkway for spectators. 

The bridge was open at the top with huge glass windows so you could look out. It was a bit tricky to see things as you got further along because the steel of the actual bridge could get in the way. Being able to see straight down to the water below was pretty incredible. We watched the waves crash and turn and make whirlpools all over the place. 

You could also be out on the water viewing the whirlpools from a boat, which we could see on the water as well. I don't know if the view would be better though, that close up. It was inconceivable to me, just how the boat drivers managed to get so close and then pull away before disaster. Especially when we could see the boat tilting when all the passengers crowded over to one side to see the whirlpools. The day had turned rainy and the wind out on the peninsular was so strong, so we were happy to jump back into the car and drive home again. 

The next day we went to visit the gardens at Takamatsu, the Ritsurin Gardens. Compared with Okayama, these were beautiful! I don't know if it was just because there was more water features, or different nature to view, but we loved these gardens. 

When we got there, Rachel picked up a stamp collection sheet at the front desk. Just like at Okayama castle, she had to wander around to different locations getting the stamps. I think that would be have been enough for her, but you could also hand it in at the end for a prize. As soon as she picked it up, Rachel studied the map and was ready to go. 

She and Sophie ended up planning our route and leading us around the gardens. Maybe we liked it more because the girls were actually on board with being there, while in Okayama, they were ready to leave from the moment we entered. I don't know, but we were having so much fun we let them get some fish food for the koi too. 

What was less fun was when on the way to our final stamp collection point, the girls got a little too far ahead and we lost them around a bend. Not 100% sure which way they had gone, Steve and I split up to look for them. We were in no way worried about finding them, or their general safety, but it was a hot day, and I didn't want to end our lovely morning with a stressful search and rescue. 

So I just asked everyone I saw if they had seen the girls and eventually we tracked them down. They said that someone at a shop had talked to them in Japanese but they didn't quite understand, but the tourist I had asked from Hong Kong had stopped them and told them which way we had gone. We did spend time going over the "What to do when lost" plans and walked back to the shops I had stopped in at to say thanks and that we found them. 

We went down to the main shopping street and enjoyed some delicious udon for lunch. This is what Takamatsu is famous for and it was indeed amazing. Steve then went off to the doctors to get what we hoped was a final x-ray on his hand. The girls and I wandered around and over to a local park where there were summer festival stalls set up. 

The rest of that day and the next were very meh to be honest. We had pretty much exhausted the things we wanted to do in Takamatsu itself, the heat was not fun and the news of Steve's hand not being healed just made us all want to cry. Well, mostly me. We decided to take it easy, played some DnD with the girls and walked out to see the fireworks over the water for our final night. 

I was really glad we got to see another fireworks festival. I had two organised in Tokyo, but Steve came back from Fuji-san on the day of the first one, so we didn't go then, and the second one was the day Rachel came home from school camp, so she was wrecked. We did end up going, but between the heat, crowds and exhausted Rachel, we didn't stay long. In Takamatsu, our AirBnb was right near the water, so we just had a short walk to the beach, got a great spot to view the fireworks and had a fantastic time. It was a really nice way to end what had been a bit of an up and down four days.