Čarobna, mistična Wakayama, Japonska

Ko sem med planiranjem naše poti po Japonski videl prve fotografije prefekture Wakayame, sem imel občutek, kot da gledam Japonsko v malem. Starodavni templji, fantastična gorska pokrajina, prisrčne male japonske vasice in noro razgibana obala so le delček stvari, ki jih ponuja pokrajina, ki leži dobesedno na pragu milijonskih mest in glavnih turističnih poti. Hitro dobiš občutek, kot da bi jo vse tiste milijone turistov enostavno pozabile. Wakayamo smo prevozili podolgem in počez in brez težav bi ostali še kakšen teden. Glede na našo izkušnjo lahko povem, da jo lahko res dobro raziščeš le z avtom ali avtodomom, saj so res lepi kotički skoraj nedostopni z javnim prevozom. Po prvem tipanju ob obali, ko smo uživali na najbolj tradicionalni tunini tržnici na Japonskem smo se podali v notranjost. Najprej na tradicionalno romarsko pot Komodo, potem pa v gore, med stoletne japonske cedre, v iskanju starodavnih grobov samurajev. Vmes pa še skoki v onsene in uživanje v vrhunski kulinariki. 😉

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When I saw the first photos of the Wakayama prefecture of Japan, I decided that we had to visit this interesting place. Ancient temples, fantastic mountain landscapes, cute little Japanese villages and  crazy coastline are just a fraction of the things the region offers. And even though it lies on the doorstep of huge cities and major tourist routes, it is still rarely visited. You quickly get a feeling as if it was forgotten by all those millions of tourists traveling around Japan. We traveled around Wakayama for a week and we could easily stay couple of more days. And the best way to really explore it is to drive around by rented car or campervan as in our case. After we explored the sea coast and enjoyed at the world most famous tuna market, we headed back into the interior. First to the traditional pilgrimage path Kumano Komodo, then into the mountains, among hundreds years old cedar trees, in search for ancient graves of samurais. And in between we enjoyed top class japanese cuisine and fell in love with japanese tradicional bath – onsen.