Our pre-cruise planning document has us taking the tram from the port up to the aquarium. We learn that there will be a shuttle bus to nearly the same place so that’s made life easier.
We breakfast under beautiful blue skies, it’s probably the best weather of the cruise so far.
After our drop-off we walk past the ferry that goes across to the volcano, note that Ponant’s Le Soléal is parked right in town (she’s only 1/3 our size so forgiven for this impudence) and then pass a lovely memorial garden as we walk onwards to Sengan-en, an UNESCO heritage gardens.
Sengan-en was established in 1658 by the Shimadzu family and has grown over the years to become a stately home, literally , having received a long list of noteworthy visitors, including many Japanese Emperors, Tzar Nicholas II and Edward VIII.
In the gardens is a hydroelectric system, and a furnace which uses the reverberatory method – this is a type I’ve not come across before and it is similar to a blast furnace but doesn’t allow the ore and fuel to mix, I don’t think we used these in Sheffield.
The house is gorgeous and unlike a lot we have seen, is original rather than a rebuild. We are able to wander around many of the rooms, some empty but others with examples of how they were used. There are some beautiful screen doors on display.
We finish our walk around the garden by visiting the oniwa and cat shrines, rice hammer and enjoying an early ice cream. Outside the gardens was a glassworks with some fine crystal on display.
We walk back into town viewing some magnificent buildings on the route, and some great statuary, including Saigo Takamori who was important and hugely influential, at one time effectively running Japan.
We find a huge Buddhist Temple but not how to get in! The town centre is very appealing and we enjoy strolling through the Japanese Maple lined streets, reminding us of our garden in Cawthorne where we had some of these beautiful trees.
We then commence our return, which is to walk back to Quest. People onboard think we are crazy to embark on these marathon journeys but in reality they are trivial, and we see so much ordinary real-life things as we walk.
The ship looks fabulous parked on a new berth complete with a huge customs and immigration centre, clearly capable of handling the multi-thousand customers some ships carry.
We have a quick afternoon because our fabulous Cruise Director is doing her show early today. I wrote the following for the cruise groups:
“Tonight’s pre-dinner show on Quest is the indefatigable Aimée our superb cruise director.
We enjoy Julie and Judy medleys, then a love song collection. Next it’s a Shirley and Etta mix, before a Wicked duet with singer Jess. Lastly it’s Ruby Slippers to close a stunning performance.
Brava to our super-talented Aimée!”
Most of our readers will be able to decode I’m sure!
Dinner is in MDR tonight we have different choices … him: gnocchi, tomato soup, venison and pecan cake; me: scallops, carrot & curry soup, pork and soufflé du jour. Every course is perfect! See composite menu if interested in the details.
The second show is a Canadian comedian. Truthfully we don’t really understand everything but there are occasional funny moments, particularly making fun of cruise ship customers. Unfortunately despite some feeble attempts at inclusivity, he is quite heterocentric – even though 90% of the front row are men.
