It was as exciting as ever but at the same time it was tiring. It was largely to blame on my cheap and nasty pair of walking shoes with no proper arc support, which were already giving me enough trouble; and the day's destination was Mt. Shigi in Nara.
It took a few transfers to get to the foot of the mountain. The Hanshin line train my husband I took took us to Kintetsu Ue-Honmachi station, where we transferred to a connecting train to Shigi sanguchi station ("The Foot of Mt Shigi" station) where we took a cable way to Takayasu Yama Station, which means Mt. Takayasu station.
Takayasu mountain is another mountain in Ikoma Mountain Range, but I don't know, for some reason I was intrigued by Mt. Shigi more.
We took a bus from the cable way station and the amazing view was already in front of us.
Out of a pure serendipity, we found a hotel that had a hot spring. We were so pleased because we had wanted to go to a hot spring but all those I could find were too far away from where I was staying.
We didn't have any bath towel with us, but I had a small towel and my husband bought one at the reception. They had a Roten Buro (Open-air bath) in Women's bath as well as Men's. Enjoying the hot spring while watching a magnificent mountain view was truly indulging, but one thing to note; people with tattoos are not allowed in the (public) bath.
A lovely view from the front lounge.
About half an hour later we headed to the peak of the mountain, which the google map said would take 17 minutes walk.
No way, it took more like 30 minutes. Maybe it was because the weather was rather hot, or maybe it was after having a bath, or it could be because we detoured a lot by dropping by the temple half way up the mountain that made the distance feel a lot farther. Either way, we continued to walk up the seemingly endless steps to the top of the mountain.
Temples on the way up.
We were puffing heavily, as I was dragging my body up somehow, my husband would ask me every few minutes "how much longer to the top?" - Well, that's my question, my dear.
Then shortly after, a monk in Yamabushi-like outfit spotted us and greeted us with a bow. He spoke English and told us that it would be just 5 more minutes walk away and gave us a god's blessing with a horn as he took off.
Amazingly all the people we met on the way up there were middle-aged to old people, who are used to walking up and down the mountain daily.
The peak we finally reached was nothing fancy, but very special. The sense of achievement was of course part of it, but overlooking the breathtaking mountain range and the nearby temples with nobody else around but us, sitting at a bench and eating sandwiches, is also something that we will never forget.
After coming back to our accomodation, I could barely move. I was so exhausted, my legs felt like tree trunks, and we had to give up on the plan to go to Kyoto the next day.
We spent a few more days in Osaka, but for now I finish my journal entry for the day and wish you good night.
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