Berry's SEAJ trip Day 67: Black sand beaches and one big Buddha (8/11/15)

Had an early breakfast and then headed down the coast to Enoshima to explore that island a bit. I walked all around it (all the way to the cave on the other side) however I realized after that it would have been a better idea to get the day pass which not only gives you access to a few escalators going up the hill, but more importantly, it gives you access to the attractions on the island (cave, overlook, etc.).

Berry is riding a giant sea turtle. Because why not?

Berry and his stone dragon friend, Mushu.

Even the walkways are pretty amazing. I want dragons escorting me everywhere I go.

Shrine island we are going to explore. Lets do this!

Now we walk through the street on our way to the shrine entrance.

We finally made it to the shrine Berry!

Pretty massive/awesome entrance.

Berry and his shrine entrance.

View from the walk we just did. Let the shrine exploration begin.

Ill call this the protector of the island.

View down from the mountain. Looks like fun. We should check this out on our way back.

Zelda is a thing in Japan. Proof.

Berry happy to find a cool lil bridge to cross.

A painted map of the temple of Enoshima that Berry and I are exploring.

Berry sitting in front of the circle of trust. Not sure what it is for but Berry wanted to pose in front of it.

Berry enjoying the huge fountain. 

Trash can design is on point says Berry.

Can someone please explain what this is supposed to mean?

Berry wondering why his hands were different. Not a conversation I expected to ever have.

The imperial red and gold is a great color combo.

Berry about to get his hands cleaned by his dragon friend.

As you get down the walkway, you come to a place where the water runs over the rocks right by you. I feel as though walking out there would be dangerous, sorry Berry.

Cool circular walk along the coast to get over to the cave below.

Entrance to a cave at the end of the walk. Berry wants to go in, but seemed small and had to pay extra.

Just doing a lil birding

Cool fountain we came across by the shore.

Berry watching the surfers not surfing.

Cool beach a short walk from the rail. Not bad.

Berry taking a dip in the black sand beaches of Enoshima.

Have some cool temples on the island and when I am done exploring, I head back to the rail, checking out the beach on the way. The beaches are nice and the sand is black and the water isn't too cold (used to the pacific in USA being cold but here its tolerable). As such there are people everywhere on the shore and in the water swimming/surfing/playing games, etc. Enjoyed the water and then got some lunch on way to the trolley to head over to Kamakura to check out the big Buddha and the Hasedura temple.

Can we say scary? There is a reason this dude is behind bars.

Berry found Buddha first.

That is a big Buddha eh Berry?

Profile view.

You can pay a little bit more and go up the Buddha. We did not but that is why there is a whole in his back.

Big peaceful Buddha.

Berry wants to climb the tree to get in there. We will go in the front entrance.

Berry getting some sun at the temple. No big deal.

Cool statue on the temple grounds.

Berry looking out from the top of the brief walk at the back of the temple.

Berry at the Hasedura temple. Beautiful building.

Little blurry but this lil cave within the temple had 100s of these little statues placed in here.

Berry hanging out with statue dude.

Quintessential Japanese garden picture.

The Buddha is literally a giant Buddha sitting outside (the temple around it kept burning down or something like that so they took it as a sign that Buddha wanted to be outside so they didn't rebuild it.  It was interesting but not sure if it is worth it if you have seen some temples and big Buddhas before. I then headed down to Hasedura where they have a big gold Buddha to check out as well as a nature walk on top of the hill and a cave at the bottom of it (neither of which are really worth your time). After the temple I went back to the house to meet up with the gang; on the way I finally tried a Calpis soda (I had been wanting to try one because the name is funny) which tasted like a fresca or something like that. We decided to have a night in which consisted of taco dinner then me and Dave sitting on the patio to have some scotches and good ole fashioned male bonding as Tammy had a meeting for work. After trying some of the various scotches we turned in for the night.

Yeah finally tried this thing. Not bad, just tasted like a soda.