Hey!!! I came back with a new post. It’s still cold here in Tokyo, so I’m going to write about places I visited last year at Kamakura. I went there in summer with my friend Willy. Yes the one that take really good photos. We went to a temple with tons of hydrangea and the beach. Let’s gooo!
First stop: Meigetsuin (明月院) the hydrangea temple.
This temple is located at Kita-Kamakura and it’s really famous for it’s Hydrangea. If you want to take a good pictures, you should come early in the morning when there’s less people. I arrived there at 9AM and there were a lot of people lining already.
By the way, do you know how to say Hydrangea in Japanese? I’ll teach you. It’s called “ajisai” 紫陽花
I don’t remember the admission fee for this temple, I think it’s around 500-600yen? If you know the exact amount then probably you can drop a comment.
Another point of interest in this place is there’s a room with a beautiful round window and during autumn season, the fall foliage can be seen from here. It’s so pretty but I can’t take picture that time because too many people inside the room.
If I’m not mistaken they also serve tea in that room and that explains why a lot of people were lining. The temple opens from 8:30AM to 6PM, hence, at 9AM there were so many people lining there already
I suggest you to come here at June-July when it’s the hydrangea season or during the fall foliage (November)
Second Stop: Jyoujyuuin 成就院
This temple is also famous for the Hydrangea. Unfortunately, when I went there, it was under reconstruction. It should finish by this March, so you can visit there summer 2017. The nearest station to this temple is Gokurakuji.
Third Stop: Yuigahama 由比ヶ浜
You know, the Enoshima train usually has a special ticket for 680yen and you can ride the Enoshima train as many as you like. However, we did not buy that ticket last time. When we got off at Gokurakuji, we thought it was a waste of money to jump to the train again, so we walked from Gokurakuji, along the Yuigahama beach until Kamakura Koukou Mae station.
From Yuigahama you can see Mt. Fuji on clear day. This is also favourite spot to take photos. It was a bit cloudy when I went there and I could not see the mountain hahaha.
We walked alongside the beach until Kamakura Koukou Mae and we found this spot to take picture too.
That train track in front of Kamakura Koukou Mae station is used as filming spot several times. We saw so many Chinese tourist gathered around there and took photos.
And us too, we acted like tourist hahahaha.
Lastly, Willy took some photos for me, wohooo!! As usual they are really good. >.< Thank you Willy!
Summary:
Kamakura has a lot of famous, big, pretty temples, however, ajisai can only be seen during summer. If you were in Japan during summer, then I’d recommend to visit those places I mentioned. There’re a lot other activities to enjoy in Kamakura too, so you have nothing to lose. And it’s really close from Tokyo/Yokohama.
And that’s all my words for this time. See you in the next post and as usual, comments are always loved!
Have a good week!