In the end of our journey we had 3 days reserved for the art island of Naoshima (forming a group of art islands with Teshima and 7 others in the Inland Sea).
We stayed in the Benesse House Hotel on the island which has pro and cons. The pro is that you are there and central – the con… well it’s rather expensive and not our style of people . Should we ever go back I guess we would stay in one of the surrounding cities and take the morning / evening ferries, but who knows?
Getting to the island is simple
An evening approach
in calm waters
The 1st officer keeps watch
and lookout
interesting sky – we expected rain, it just got warmer
And children have fun with well known games
When you enter the guest rooms in the hotel this statue always gave me the creeps as it was the first thing to see after the door…
In general don’t expect too many pictures of the art inside as they were very strict about this (not allowing it with tripod, for commercial, etc.)
Let’s say they have a very interesting architecture (Tadao Ando did most things) and style
It’s all very cool and minimalistic
Buildings as art
With nice sculptures
like grass swinging in the wind
more art…
Just impressions
of style
View through our window shade into the garden
Another attempt
As supplies were sparse we headed to the main city (tiny…) to get some water, drinks, etc.
To our surprise the temple was very nice
With nice figures
and guardians
Yes, this one too…
As we had a bit of time and now a proper supply of matches Ursi was enjoying a cigar at the pier
Quite and unusual sight in Japan…
Our station
With the omni-present Japanese soft-boiled egg (already salted inside)
Very peaceful indeed
The pumpkin is quite well known
Maggots!
big ones…
From the inside
He was obviously enjoying himself
And this guy had an early dinner…
Well, art is all around you
As are jelly-fish
We have never ever seen so many of them before
View from our balcony over the sea to Takamatsu
Art excursions
garden art…
burnt wood
I loved the colour contrasts
A recycled building
The public baths are an art project in themselves
After the dinner was too expensive for what it actually was the first night, we decided to go to an outside place on the 2nd evening… Good choice! Grill your own…
Horse meat tartar with egg yolk – yummy!
Well, this is how it looks before
Clams
Beef, pork and squid
Afterwards some digestion walk along the harbour meeting old friends
friends?
No swimming…
Puffer fish…
Art installations everywhere
And the well known pumpkin next to the hotel
rather big, not as big as the red one
Here comes the dark force…
Hmmm – sceptical looks as reflection
In the evening we opted for the hotel restaurant once more and this time everything was great
sake glasses
the starters
Yummy!
With the sunset reflection in the pictures
Salty Custard
Green pea bun glazed with sauce
Cooked fish
Some sample Kaiseki menus
And these one as well…
From Naoshima the island of Teshima is just a small boat trip away, yet a totally different, even more peaceful world of its own.
The temple was stunning with the bent stairs (done by the roots of the tree)
And art, of course
Water outlet
Natural clear spring water – very mineralic
And a wonderful eating place for a perfect lunch. They really outdid themselves
And the cedar tiles
Just look closely where the engine is supposed to be – 50 cm³ instead of 1000 A small downsized version of a chopper…
The way back
on a speed boat
All the inland islands very used heavily for industry with all the nasty by-products. Now they try to get rid of everything and convert it – but this takes ages…
Sunset with the bridge through some rocks
Modern Art I
Modern Art II
An installation
My interpretation of another installation
And one more…
After being filled with so much art saying good-bye was not easy but we had to get to Tokyo. So we took the Marine liner once more
That’s the train…
And this time paid the extra fare for 1st class as this means the upper part of the car
Which means you actually see something as the lower part is behind a wall… And if you travel over the longest bridge in the world (9.4 km) than it really is worth seeing.
It is really high up and a bit eerie feeling being some 40 m above ground in a train.
Everything looks really small down there…
This gives you some impression
And again Japanese – reading manga online
This video might give you some more impressions
And another example of English gibberish
At least we saw the real Fuji as well on the way north…
Kommentar verfassen