Kochi

Last night, the ship departed punctually at 7:00 PM from Osaka. As we were leaving, we were bid farewell by a Japanese group with drums. That was definitely a highlight. The evening ended quickly for me; I was totally exhausted from our sightseeing tour.

Today, we docked in Kochi right on time at 7:00 AM and were greeted with music and flag acrobatics. These activities are not organized by the ship but by the individual cities. I must say, 'really fantastic.'

After a delicious breakfast, we headed straight off the ship and took a taxi to our first excursion destination. It was amusing that the taxi doors opened and closed automatically. Upon our arrival, it wasn't very busy, so we managed the climb up the large stairs to the castle entrance very comfortably. I found it fascinating to see a man who continuously cleared the large stair steps of leaves. Even when we went back down from the castle, he was sweeping the steps. Accordingly, it was very clean there. You really don’t see any scraps or cigarette butts lying around; that's truly incredible. Just a note about cleanliness :-)...

The castle was of course very worth seeing. We entered the castle and explored every floor. We had to be careful of our heads because the ceiling beams were at eyebrow height ;-).

From the top deck, there was a panoramic view of Kochi.

Every Sunday, there is a very long street market right next to the castle. We strolled through it, of course, and were amazed at what was being offered there. We bought fresh ginger and chicken skewers. The skewers were quickly consumed :-), and they were super delicious. Then, I bought a pillow filled with cedar wood. The test pillow definitely smelled fantastic, and I am already looking forward to using it at home.

From the market, we took a bus to the beach. In Kochi, you enter from the back and take a small paper ticket. When you get off, you show it to the driver, and on a monitor, you can see the fare you need to pay. It's a good and understandable system. At the beachfront promenade, we saw a samurai statue and a shrine. After the very pleasant sightseeing tour, we were able to spend some time at the beach.

Kochi is truly a very beautiful and, above all, a manageable city. The people were also very nice again, which impressed me a lot.

Right now, we are being farewelled by a local dance group with Japanese music and dance. Really great. We are about to set sail now :-)... Ship ahoy;-)

Tomorrow, we will be in Hiroshima.

I won't proofread the report anymore :-(.... so that I can still upload it.

Best regards