travel – Happy little things

Day 2

25.03.2025 Kobe, Temple Engyoji and Onomichi town.

I haven’t received my film scans yet, so I used only photos taken with my phone. I’ll be adding more film photos from our trip soon.

I woke up today after 6:30 AM and, after a while, felt tired and sleepy, even though we went to bed before 10 PM—at least Amelia and I did. The time difference between Japan and the UAE is five hours, so it will take some time to adjust. This is why I didn’t plan anything grand for our first day after arrival.

We had breakfast at the hotel premises. It was our first time trying a Japanese-style breakfast—last year, we somehow skipped the opportunity.
I loved it.

There was a big variety of vegetables, fish, salads, soups, eggs, and some sweets. The tray was a rectangular plate divided into nine small sections, allowing you to pick nine different dishes from the buffet. I loved that most of the dishes were savory and healthy, with very few sweets. The girls chose small bowls of broth with egg noodles, along with some sausages and bacon.

After 9 AM, we set off for Kobe to meet our relatives and spent a few hours there. They treated us to a delicious cake and green tea and even gave us sweets for the road—so lucky are we!

Sleeping on tatamis in Japan — A cake our relatives bought for us

The drive from Kobe to Onomichi took three hours. Along the way, I found a temple Engyoji, and we decided to stop by. To get there, we had to take a cable car, which was a lot of fun. We bought tickets from a machine and waited a little while. The place wasn’t busy.

We could have visited Himeji Castle, one of Japan’s most famous castles, but instead, we chose a lesser-known spot. The cable car ride, the walk, and the temple itself were 100% worth visiting! We spent more time there than planned, but I’m glad we stopped.

One more thing we love about Japan is the vending machines with both hot and cold drinks—various teas, coffees, lemonades, etc.

You can even buy canned corn soup! That’s exactly what Amelia was asking for on our way to the temple. Unfortunately, the vending machines there were sold out.

Onomichi town

Our next destination was Onomichi, where we had booked a house on Airbnb—a 100-year-old house.
We arrived at 7 PM. The landlord met us at the house and showed us around. We had to park our car a two-minute walk away.

By then, we were starving, but almost everything was already closed. Thankfully, thanks to Google Maps, we found a nice ramen place. I ordered the original Onomichi ramen, Alex got oyster ramen, and the girls wanted gyoza—fried dumplings with pork and herbs. Everything was delicious. The girls also ate half of my ramen. Probably, we should have ordered more.

On our way back, we picked up some snacks for tomorrow’s breakfast. Usually, we either get something we already know and love or try completely new snacks and foods.

This time, we chose matcha daifuku-style crepes, namelaka cream soufflé (the same name that the café in Dubai and Kyiv is named after! And yes, it tastes just as soft and creamy), a boiled egg (for myself), sautéed root vegetables, matcha baumkuchen, crab sticks, a sakura bun, small sausages, jellies, and onigiri with salmon.
After a nice evening walk, we went straight to bed.

The weather has been pretty warm these past two days—much better than last year when Japan welcomed us with cold rains.

By the way, this the character in Osaka Expo 2025. “MYAKU-MYAKU”.
I found this in Wikipedia: Myaku-Myaku is described as “a mysterious creature”, with a body composed of cells (red), and water (blue).

Our car route on this day on Google Maps: 25 March: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Vh9vgJHqvwXnt3wD7?g_st=ic

Day 3

26.03.2025 Onomichi town, and a ferry ride to Itsukushima Shrine Otorii Gate

We had breakfast at the house, took a few photos and videos, and checked out at 8:30 AM because we were asked when we would be leaving. I suggested getting it done as early as possible so we could go for a walk in the city.

An old lady came to collect the keys. Usually, we check in without anyone involved, but this time was different. Maybe it’s common in Japan—I’m not sure. Last year, we were also met by a host who showed us around.

Our first stop was the ropeway to the temple on the hill, where we could enjoy the view of the city.

The view from the top of the Senkoji Temple Mountain Ropeway Base Station

To be honest, the weather was very warm and pleasant today. At some point, it even felt hot.

We walked down the hill and found a street dedicated to cats (Neko no Hosomichi) ! Although we saw only one, everything about it confirmed that it was indeed a “cat alley”—statues, paintings on the stone walls, and cat figurines scattered along the way.

After descending the stairs, I really wanted to take a video of the passing train and a traffic light. Well… it didn’t go as planned. My phone died at the exact moment the train passed by. I ended up recording it on my camcorder, though I had really wanted to use my phone today.

Places worth visiting in Onomichi:

Senkoji Park
Onomichi City Museum of Art
Bungakuno-Komichi
Cat Alley (Neko no Hosomichi)
Jikoji Temple
Senkoji Temple Mountain Ropeway Base Station
Shimanami Kaido Cycling Route

I saved a list of places I planned to visit with a family in case we got hungry. Obviously, we couldn’t eat in every place I saved, but I am sharing it here:

Ramen and lunch places:

Bakery and ice-cream places:

Miyajimaguchi town and Itsukushima Shrine Otorii Gate on Miyajima Island.

We set off for Miyajimaguchi (1.5 hour drive – I am giving a pin location of the parking we left our car), where the local specialties are eel with rice, oysters, and maple leaf-shaped sweets filled with chocolate, peach, green tea, bean paste, and more.

We had lunch at a small café that only serves eel and oysters. The kids weren’t too excited to try them but enjoyed the rice and miso soup that came with the sets. Alex ordered for us, but the waitress misunderstood and brought three sets instead of two. In the end, it turned out to be a good mistake! Next time, I think I should be in charge of ordering—I’ve never had an issue being understood.

View from the ferry on the way to the island with famous Torii in the water

Just in front of the **Itsukushima Shrine Otorii Gate**

With two hours left, we headed straight to the ferry station. We chose the red ferry (there was also a blue one). Alex had read somewhere that this one passes by the Torii gate in the water. In the end, we panicked and bought round-trip tickets from the machine at the last minute but still made it on time. We sat on the right side of the ship and had a perfect view of the torii gate.

On the island, we saw many deer roaming around, which was amazing. They weren’t aggressive at all and even let us pet them.

It was low tide, so we could walk up to the Itsukushima Shrine Otorii Gate. The water was freezing, but the experience was incredible.

Places to eat in Miyajimaguchi and Miyajima Island:

Anago places ( grilled Conger Eel served over rice):

Momiji Manju places – Japanese confectionery shop ( a soft, maple leaf–shaped cake filled traditionally with anko (sweet red bean paste):

The cake’s shape celebrates the island’s famous maple trees and the beauty of seasonal change. It’s one of the most popular omiyage (souvenirs) in Hiroshima and we also got one box with these maple-shaped sweets to Dubai.

After taking the ferry back to the mainland, we drove to our next stop: a guesthouse in Mine (2 hours drive) where we had a private room but shared bathrooms and toilets on the ground floor.