This day we got up and close and personal with some very dangerous volcanoes in the Unzen Amakusa National Park. First was Mt Unzen and its geothermal area, home to many onsen and a lot of smelly sulphuric gas.
In 1792 its eruption killed over 15,000 people. In 1991, a pyroclastic flow killed forty-three people, and lahars (mud flows) connected with it, buried over 2,000 homes in the next few years. Inside the geopark there is a museum where people can walk around some of the buried houses
After this cheery expedition, we headed into the town of Shimabara for lunch at Hotel Nanpuro, a ryoken (inn) which offered splendid food and a a truly uninspiring vista of the Ariake sea.
Mt Unzen from the ferry to Kumamoto.
The hotel’s gardens were nice enough
The ocean view. Damp weather and low tide do not make for nice seascapes
After lunch, we had a quick drive around Shimibara, including a drive past the extremely large castle, before hopping onto a very crowded ferry.
What we didn’t realise was that because of transport problems, the ferry was more than usually full of kids. And in this part of the world, kids do one thing on ferries – buy food to throw at the seagulls. As soon as we were in open water, it was pandemonium! Between the screaming of the gulls and the shrieking of excited kids, I was deafened. Fortunately it was a shortish ride, because there were no seats spare, but it’s not a journey I ever want to repeat.
And then finally we were in Kumamoto, and onto the next post.