The Bridge to Heaven

We spent the last two days in Amanohashidate, a tiny village located north-west from Kyoto. 

Amanohashidate is said to be one of the 3 most beautiful landscapes in all of Japan, which we now, after having enjoyed the splendid scenery for ourselves, can completely understand. The highlight of this charming place is the so called "Bridge to Heaven", a thin strip of land with a length of 3.3 km, which is covered with over 7'000 pine trees. It serves as a natural bridge to connect the two sides of Miyazu Bay.

We basically just spent our two days in Amanohashidate exploring the surrounding area by bike and relaxing. Yesterday we both had our first swim in the sea of this year. Hadn't it been for the odd jellyfish we spotted, it would have been all the more enjoyable, since temperature was pleasantly warm and the water crystal clear. 

The youth hostel we stayed in was just great. It was located on top of a hill, adjacent to a little shrine and surrounded by a bamboo forest we had grown to like so much. We had a very spacious dorm to ourselves that included a balcony with a view of the sea. In the evenings we enjoyed sushi which we had bought in the nearby and extremely reasonably priced supermarket and later on had a good laugh with other travellers.

UPDATE: We're on our way to Kinosaki Onsen now. As we found out there is always a very good reason for one fare only costing a third of what one usually would pay for the commute...

- Alessio and Louis