The good times keep on coming! The next morning we checked out of the hotel and we were bussed to a port in Nachi Katsuura ( https://nachikan.jp/en/ ) where we would be boarding a water taxi to take us to the Hotel Urashima.
The hotel's website http://www.hotelurashima.co.jp/
After we arrived we were given a quick briefing by the hotel staff on the hot springs that were available to us and when they would be closed for cleaning. Most everyone in our group wanted to use the famous cave hot spring but we had to hurry because it would be closed for cleaning in less than an hour.
Inside the changing room of the cave hot spring.
Photography is strictly prohibited in the bathing area. Somehow I accidently took this one picture while I was still standing in the changing room. This only shows a little bit of the cave. The actual inside area is huge and amazing. There are 5 different baths and a beautiful view of the ocean. I highly recommend this place; it's one of the best onsen I've ever visited (and I've visited a lot of them).
As I left the cave the hotel cleaning staff had already put a sign in front of the entrance saying it was closed for cleaning.
With some free time before we departed the island I did a little walking around the hotel. This place is huge! Different sections of the hotel are connected by long corridors.
Getting into the Christmas spirit.
Sadly we were only here for the morning and would be departing around noontime. I'd love to stay overnight here. I walked around the island waterfront to kill some time before departure.
Next we went back to the center of the port town to the Higashimuro district. This is one of those old districts that looks like it had seen better days but is still hanging on hoping for better days in the future.
We were told by the tour guide that we needed to buy something for lunch to eat on the train. Yes, it was time to say goodbye to our beautiful tour bus and take an express train to Shin-Nagoya station. Anyway, we were only given 20 minutes to find a place to get lunch and be back at the train station.
This is Kii-Katsura train station.
The ticket gate at the station is on the second floor. A few of us took the stairs to the second floor; the rest of the group took the elevator (that took time). Eventually we all managed to gather at the gate and then we all went through and boarded the train.
It's a nice train, very comfortable, big windows for sightseeing. The ride to Shin-Nagoya was long but the train followed the ocean coast for awhile and then ran through forests and rice fields; quite scenic!
It took a few hours but we finally arrived at Shin-Nagoya station. From this platform we will move to the Shinkansen Bullet train platform.
Our guide (the man in the orange and black coat) successfully managed to get us all moved from point "A" to point "B" without losing anyone. It was after 4:20 pm and our train would be departing at 4:49pm. So many of the people went off to buy Ekiben meals (box lunches sold in train stations) to eat on the train.
I stayed in place and watched our suitcase while Emi went off to get our Ekiben meals. This gave me a nice chance to take some pictures of the other Bullet trains as they came and went.
It's getting close to our departure time. The guide hands out seating assignments and tries to get people to stand in a line for boarding the train.
It was like herding cats! He eventually got us all in line and it was just in time...
Our train home has just arrived! This train is a super express with no stops between Shin-Nagoya and Shin-Yokohama; we'll be in Yokohama in a little over an hour!
All in all it was a fantastic trip - I had a great time!
Thanks for stopping by!
Mike
Bonus shots!
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