On Oshogatsu, having very few other plans but wanting to take advantage of the day off, we decided to head to Hirado and "find out what that's all about."
The drive was a ramble through misty jade mountains, past giant white windmills, curving along small rivers and jigsaw puzzle coastlines. In other words, it was quite lovely, evoking several classic images of Japan's natural beauty.
The longer-than-expected drive took us through several smaller towns and past a couple different insect museums (we were unaware there was such a big demand for those in these parts), until at last we came to a fork in the road. One prong took us toward a waterside fish market, while the other took us over a big red bridge (sort of like a miniature of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco). Having no set plans other than "to have an adventure" we chose the bridge, thus ending up on Hirado island.
We drove around some more, trying to find a good place to stop and start exploring on foot. After a short but awkward detour into what may have very well been someone's private backyard distillery, we at last found what looked like the parking lot to a natural park of some sort. We parked. We took a potty break. We started walking.
And this is what we saw:
We began with a climb up a grassy hill.
Then came across a rock monument of some sort, and a very severely leaning bench.
Then Aria took the lead and decided we were to climb the nearest giant hill, to see what was on the other side.
Where we found these views, and a large stone compass rose.
Daddy played pony on the way back to the car.
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