9. Kanazawa

The next port of call has been Kanazawa, a much bigger city than Sakaiminato, but no less hot. We took the shuttlebus into the centre of town and set off to explore.

Firstly we stopped at Omi-cho market, a large enclosed and covered area selling mainly seafood, but also hosting a number of small restaurants and cafes. Even thought it was only mid-morning, all the stalled seemed to be doing a roaring trade. We sampled a special green tea and Claire braved something on a stick with a local speciality sauce, described as "loaches".  No, we don't know what they are either. Throughout the market were blocks of ice, the idea being that as you passed, you rubbed your hands over the block and used it to cool down face, neck and arms. A great idea when air conditioning is non-existent.

Moving on we reached Kanazawa castle. Like nearly all castles in Japan, it is a faithful reconstruction and we stopped only to take a look around one of the guardhouse entrances, almost a castle in its own right.

Across the road from the castle was Kenrokuen Gardens, considered to be in the top three gardens in the country. It was certainly very ornate with all kinds of flora, large lakes, ornate bridges and hosted the oldest fountain in Japan. There were as many locals as tourists enjoying the grounds and some of the girls were dressed splendidly in their yukatas, or summer kimonos. We stopped for a refreshing green tea slush puppy to watch the world go by and to cool down for a few minutes.

By now the heat was beginning to take its toll so we made our way slowly back to the rendezvous point, taking advantage of several air conditioned shops as we went. In one of them we were approached by a young man eager to practice his English, asking us about where we came from and how hot was it in the UK. All good fun.

The sailaway was also rather special. A local folklore school complete with several very large flags gave us some traditional dances and flag waving moves as we pulled off from the berth. A number of families had gathered also, all waving and cheering as the captain replied with several blasts of the ship's whistle.