Saturday, January 24, 2015

Kamakura Great Buddha, Fujisawa Beach, and Enoshima


Yesterday, we drove down to the coastal areas of Kamakura, Fujisawa, and Enoshima.  I've been wanting to see the Great Buddha, or Daibutsu, in Kamakura since we arrived in Japan, and so yesterday we made it happen!  It was so cool.  And huge!  


We walked the grounds, took lots of selfies, and then the kids ate their bentos on benches near the Buddha.  It was freezing though, so we hurried them along :)



After hanging out with the big buddha for a while, we made our way down to check out the shore.  Fujisawa doesn't have the prettiest beaches I've ever seen, but on a clear day, Mt. Fuji can be seen straight across the bay, which makes up for EVERYTHING else.  Sadly, it was quite overcast yesterday, so Fujisan was hidden by clouds, but we'll back to enjoy the views again!  


Even though it was so, so cold, there were tons of surfers and stand up paddle boarders out in the water.  It made Peter and me excited to try and surf sometime this summer or next.  And, despite the fact that their fingers were freezing, the kids had tons of fun searching for shells on the beach.  Will said it was his favorite part of the day :)

Also, right at the top of the stairs from the underground parking lot, and across the street from the beach was a cute little playground.  We let the kids run around for a minute before heading off to the next spot.  It's little things like shell collecting and playgrounds that make sight-seeing with kids possible!


After checking out the beach and scoping out places to take my parents and brother when they come, we drove out to the little island just off the shore, Enoshima.  Enoshima is a little touristy spot built on the island, which is kind of like a giant rock.  It's full of vendors selling seafood (lots of mollusks and octopus!) and souvenir shops.  After walking through to the top of the little village is the entrance to several shrines, an observation tower, caves, a garden, and more.






The views from the top were incredible!



Driving down was pretty easy!  It's only an hour and a half away, although we got stuck in traffic coming home, which made the trip quite a bit longer.  Otherwise, it was great.  And there are plenty of parking lots (not cheap though . . . ) around all of these sites.

GPS Coordinates for the Great Buddha: 35. 317085, 139.535757

The beach we went to was literally straight down the road from the Buddha.  Once you hit the T in the road, turn left and it will lead you right onto the 134 coastal highway.  And, then Enoshima is just about 15 minutes west on that same highway.

1 comment:

  1. Me and Kinsey had fun looking at these pictures! Clara is getting so old and has the cutest little smile. That Buddha looks huge. It's so fun that there is so much around you guys to visit.

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