Today we continued our Wakayama Prefecture tour, by passing through Shirahama, on the coast.
Honestly, the highlight was probably the train before and after the city, but it was a good day trip.
Home to one of Japan's most famous beaches, it is listed as a tourist hotspot in all sorts of sites and books.
We started our day at Sandanbeki caves, where pirates used to hide their ships, and a blow hole splashes all over the paths inside.
From there, we went walked along the coast for over an hour, seeing some quite beautiful views, from leaping fish, to white sand beaches, ending at a natural rock formation.
Living so near the Great Ocean Road somewhat dampened the experience, and it seems like the whole area only functions in summer, with most buildings being either closed, or dilapidated. My current theory is that it was popular in the 80s, before it was so easy to just fly overseas instead. The town just hasn't caught up.
It was a good day though, and we walked over 20km in the end. We also have a whole four bedroom house to ourselves for the next two nights!!
The guy who owns the house runs the Sushi place nextdoor, but we checked his menu, and he sells whale. No thanks. We are like 15km from Taiji, where they hunt dolphins too. They have a huge whale and dolphin mural at their station. Shingu is much nicer.
Tomorrow, temple with waterfall behind it xx