Thursday. We arrived in Onomichi on the Seto Inland Sea, our last foray into rural Japan. Andy picked this stop because of its famous Shimanami Kaido Bike Route. Famous because bikers can ride across several aerial bridges between islands among other scenic stops.
This summer, we learned how to ride power assist electric bikes in preparation for riding across this 20 mile route.
Spoiler alert… we didn’t make it!
On our arrival at Onomichi Station, we stopped at a bike shop to see about reserving bikes for Saturday. That’s when we learned advance reservations were required! Or we could wake up 6am and take a chance on getting a bike Friday or Saturday.
As I was still recovering from flu, there was no chance I could do Friday. What to do? After beating himself up for awhile in frustration, a new plan started to take shape.
But first we had to check into our rustic, but charming, lodgings. Lemonsea Hotel is more like a high end hostel. I, however, had reserved the best room that included its own bathroom and a deck. The only catch is a three story hike with no handrails! No problema.
Friday. Andy didn’t want to do the e-bike ride without me so we planned this day around exploring Onomichi town on foot. We took an aerial tram to a scenic overlook of the whole city. Then we visited a small, hilltop museum designed by Tadao Ando. The exhibit inside took our breath away.
The featured artist (Motoi Yamamoto) works primarily in salt to express feelings of grief and loss and transmutability of time. We were transfixed watching a brief video of his work in progress.
Then we hiked down a winding narrow path past homes, bamboo groves and cat alleys.
We were ready for lunch and one of the specialities is a veggie, egg,seafood and noodle pancake cooked on a flat griddle in front of you. It’s called okonomiyaki. The chef and her sole customer (who lived in Hong Kong for a while and spoke perfect English) in this tiny shop were so sweet and kind as we chatted away. This was my first real meal in days and I couldn’t stop eating. So so amazingly yummy.
Back to our hotel and our bird nest retreat. The plan for Saturday kept evolving.
We decided to skip the biking altogether!! But first, that nights dinner was in an izakaya in the old covered market for some clams in sake, tempura and more.
We came back and after that Andy went through Saturday’s plan with our kind hotel host.
Saturday. After making our daily breakfast, we hustled to find the one bus stop that would take us on a one hour route through the bridges and islands to Setoda port. We’d spend some time on that island and ferry back home along with all the cyclists who actually rode the route here! That way, we see the scenic beauty and modern suspension bridges from the road (on high) and from the water (down below).
Turns out e-biking the route in that 85 degree sun would have been an uncomfortable experience. Everything worked out as it should especially since we were having a heat wave like everywhere else! Our air conditioned bus was just my speed!
Our last nights dinner was another local specialty. Onomichi style ramen, fried rice and potstickers.
We can’t notch riding the Shimanami Kaido bike trip on our belt but we did notch some excellent food, sights, lovely people and moving art. I’ll take it!
Writing this post on the 31/2 hour bullet train ride back to Tokyo. From there, it’s on to home.
