This is part 3 with Onomichi. Part one from Tokyo and part two from Osaka.

After checking the room for our belongings, we gathered everything and headed out towards Onomichi. The ride was relatively short, but first, we had to get to Shin-Osaka Station, where the Shinkansen trains stop.

To get there first we had to take the metro and towards the station where the Shinkansen are departing, from there it was a short ride to Fukuyama with just enough time to enjoy a bento box for lunch and write some lines for this Blog.

Then, it was time for a regional train all the way to Onomichi. Although Onomichi has its own „Shin“ station where Shinkansen trains stop, it is a rather small station, as we would soon discover.

Onomichi is a coastal town overlooking a set of islands. It features temples along its hills, nightlife, and a bicycle route with island hopping.

We arrived a bit early and first tried to stow our luggage. We found space for some of it at the main train station, but the large lockers were booked. For next time, here’s a travel tip: there are other large lockers in town, and some shops allow luggage storage on a daily basis. We could have just looked a bit harder. In the end, we decided to take a detour and drag our luggage along the old temple path because our luggage was too big for the bus, and we had some spare time.

This route is quite scenic, and I highly recommend walking it and exploring the area on your own (but without luggage). First, you walk into the temple/shrine area, and then you walk down Cat Alley, where abandoned houses are home to cats only.

This detour had some surprises in store for us. We found a place where you could go into someone’s backyard to get ice cream, and we spotted a hidden coffee shop that we had planned to visit the next day.

Reaching our booked lodging early gave us time to collect the stored luggage from the train station and plan the rest of our trip, which helped resolve some of the tension from the last day.

At the agreed time, we received the keys to our stay: a lovely, old Japanese-style house (100 years old, according to the landlord), yet thankfully with modern air conditioning, small ceilings, wooden floors, and futon beds in the sleeping chamber. From the vestibule, which kept the heat outside and separated the inner room from the outside, one could reach a small patio and the toilet. Everything was closed off by glass sliding doors. The bathroom had a shower area with a Japanese bathtub, which is shorter and deeper than European-style bathtubs.

Once we had settled in, it started raining lightly, so we decided to check out the town. If you knew the right route, getting into town wasn’t that hard. We explored the passages and shops to decide where to go the next day. As we walked, we looked into cycling rental options for the next day, but the forecast was not as promising as we would have liked.

The town and passages was generally quiet. I’m not sure if this is normal or if there is a tourist season when the place comes alive and fills up in advance. For us, it felt very off-season, which was a refreshing change from the crowded and congested days before.

While walking, we spotted a pizza place that was about to open. It looked great just from the outside. After quickly confirming with the reviews, we decided to give it a try and were not disappointed.

After this meal, we strolled along the oceanfront and looked down at the ferries carrying passengers to close-by islands. Then, we walked down the rainy, deserted streets back to our place.

Onomichi cycling?

Our initial idea was to come here and rent bicycles, but we did not make a reservation in advance so that we could be flexible. Since it was cloudy, humid, and rainy, we didn’t feel like going down to the rental place to pick up bikes right away because we wanted to check out the coffee place we had discovered earlier.

We reached the place the same way we did the previous day, but this time without luggage. First, we had to cross Cat Street again. This place still feels magical, as you can spot different hidden cat murals every time you walk through the alley.

Not only was Cat Street magical, but the coffee shop was too. I would argue that this house has no right angles and might collapse down the hill at some point, but luckily not during our visit. The coffee shop was full of little details, trinkets, and decorations. The coffee cups we were served were all different, but they had matching saucers and spoons. For dessert, we had cheesecake served with a small glass of mandarin segments in jelly. Toward the outside, there were three small tables for two, two of which were occupied by sleeping cats enjoying the shelter from the rain and the offered treats.

After leaving the coffee place, we went to check out a cat painting crafting opportunity that we had discovered while stowing our luggage. The shop was located directly on the temple hill, which we had almost walked by the first day. Since all of my companions wanted to paint cats more than go on a bike ride, I had to decide whether to go for a ride or join them.

I decided to join them. We spent the next two hours painting cats. I highly recommend this activity in Onomichi. The owner was very supportive. She translated the instructions about the meaning of the base cat colors and the significance of the raised hand. Also, she provided an instructional video. Every craft station was equipped with colors, brushes, and everything else one would need (including a hair dryer to quickly cure the paint). Many painted cats were placed along the wall. We could pick any cat and bring it to the craft station for reference and ideas on how to start.

After we finished painting, we took some pictures with our cats. Then we headed back into town to grab lunch. This time, we settled on a small ramen shop that offered Onomichi ramen.

The ramen was really delicious and after this meal, we decided to split up. My cousin went to the Shinkansen train station to buy tickets for our next trip to Kinosaki Onsen, while I wanted to go cycling. Sadly, the bike rental shop was closed for lunch and others would have required me to rent for the entire day. So, I met up with the rest of the group to take the ferry and do some walk instead.

Several ferries operate in Onomichi to cross the narrow channel of the ocean towards the nearby islands. We took one of the ferries, walked to the other station and then took a ferry back. The fare is 100 yen per person and the ferries operate frequently during the day. Walking around the island gave us insight into the local area. There was some new construction, but also some abandoned shops. Back on the other side, we strolled around the still-empty passage. There, we explored an art shop, where I received some drunken recommendations. The guy introduced himself by saying, „I’m pretty drunk right now, but here are some places to go in the evening.“

Meanwhile, my cousin managed to buy tickets for the train, so we decided to meet back in town and take the ropeway up the mountain to enjoy the view and go for a walk back down again. Next to the port is the Senkoji Park (park map), which is located on the mountain. The view from the top is great and walking in the park has several sites to discover.

One of these sites is the Haiku Hiroba and the Haiku monument. Others are the Pon Pon Iwa, a rock where one can hit a certain spot with a hammer to make it sound like a drum. We also visisted the local temple where we could buy wooden trinkets on which write good fortune. It was similar to the other temples, we had visited in the previous days. On the way back, we crossed paths again with the route and cat alley that we had discovered the previous day. There was also a huge tree and a shrine below the ropeway cables to visit. Before hading back to town, we took some time to freshen up at our stay.

The initial idea was to check out some of the spots that we were recommended, but this turned out to be more difficult than expected. In Germany, you can see if a place is a restaurant or bar you can see this directly from the outside because you are used to the entrances and storefronts. Here, everything was deserted and looked closed. We were too afraid to just stumble into a random building. In the end, we settled on a bar called Cat, which was recognizable from the outside. It had a good selection of drinks, decent music and two screens one playing action movie and the other The Goonies.

During our time at the bar, I met a guy from Slovenia who was traveling alone. He had planned to rent a bike and go island hopping, similar to what we did. Luckily for him, the weather on the next day was better than what what we experienced during our stay.

After paying our bill, we headed back to our ancient stay for one final night. The next day would bring some surprises and a long train ride involving several regional trains.