Matsushima

We left Naruko Onsen on a smaller but still roomy coach, eventually got on an Expressway, and stopped at a modern petrol station where petrol was about £1 per litre.
We arrived on the coast at Matsushima, parked near a marina, and walked to the Godaido Temple, built on an island connected to the promenade by two short bridges, The Temple was built about 1600.
Then we ate a variety of ice-creams, some fishy, at a cafe in a park before entering the Zen Garden, where we had a brief meditation in the rock garden, surrounding the Entsuin Temple.
At a restaurant in the park, I had beef tongue, a local delicacy, for lunch before walking along the promenade to the 250m-long red Fukuurabashi Bridge which led to Fukuurajima Island Nature Park for a 30-minute walk and another ice-cream.
Rejoining the group after a coffee-stop, we took a one-hour boat-ride around Matsushima Bay to see a few of the 200+ islands, the boat going around the oyster and kelp beds. The Bay and town had escaped the worst of the 2011 tsunami due to the contours of the coast and the many islands.
The Bay is listed as one of the Three Great Sights of Japan.
It was a short coach-ride to the Grand Hotel in Ishinomaki. We went to a chicken-and-vegetable skewer restaurant for dinner.Read more