Every year during the national Obon holiday, Smith’s Katsura (スミス英会話 桂) has a short break too. And every time I spend these few extra days off outside Kyoto city with my family. In the past, we have stayed in local mountains or travelled north to the beaches of The Japan Sea. This year, we have decided to go further away.
Shodo Island (小豆島) lies between Shikoku Island and Awaji Island. Small place with beautiful nature and tasty seafood. It’s famous for olive plantations. And really, some parts of the island reminded me of Greece. On my way to the beach, I passed large green areas with olive trees, surrounded by white sand and stone.
Beaches are beautiful with warm and clean water. We were surprised by the small number of people on the beach and in the sea. Plenty of space for everybody. That’s how we like it, so we stayed by the sea all day. For the evening, our hotel prepared some seafood grilling. Fresh local fish, prawns and muscles. Delicious!
Next day we went to the mountains and visited a natural park where monkeys and deer can freely roam around. Monkeys in this park don’t like to come near people. Of course, all food must stay in the bag. Deer in the area also like to keep their distance. This gives the mountain park more natural and wild feeling.
From the mountains we could see bright beaches, olive plantations and boats sailing around the island. Amazing view. The island has many hiking trails going through beautiful gorges.
Shodo Island is a great place and I’m glad I could spend here some great family time. One day, I’d like to come back.
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