Kochi

We had a great day in Kochi, since I lost the whole post I already created this will redo will be short and sweet! Kochi welcomed our ship with music and flag performance.

The cruise ship was docked in an industrial area so ship offered a shuttle for 20.00 into town dropping us off at a bus station. From the station we walked to Kochi Castle, oldest surviving castle in Japan, started in 1601. We just explored the exterior and grounds as we were told inside is not that impressive. Picture below is Dave’s impersonation of the face on statue!

The views were from the castle grounds were amazing.

Next we went to the Castle Museum, a small museum the best part was the air conditioning! It was so hot and humid out.

We noticed a shrine down the street from the museum so we decided to go. Took off our shoes, entered and sat down, no pictures allowed in Shrines. Soon a priest or monk came and sat by us, he didn’t speak English but he really wanted to converse so another priest came over with a phone and we had a conversation using translation. We could tell they were enjoying this encounter so when we left Dave asked if we could get a picture of them outside, they smiled and nodded yes of course!

Next we explored a popular food market.

We were hot and wanted to find a sit down restaurant with air conditioning, we hit the jackpot with this great katsu place, luckily a kind local helped us with the machine you order from, had English translation for good but not for payment.

The waitress showed us how to grind up sesame seeds to put on top of your meal.

We did a little kitchen knife shopping, the guy we bought from was a hoot!

We found the iconic red bridge that has a sad love story between a monk and a young woman.

We found our way back to the bus station and took the shuttle back to the ship. We enjoyed wine and cards before dinner. We have seen this service dog a couple times at the dining room, the other night it was wearing a sparkling black tutu!