Paul and I went to Okinawa during spring vacation. Let me lead off by saying that Okinawa was great! It was warm, sunny (‘cept for the last day), and very fun. But at some points it seemed like the vacation that didn’t want to happen!
So Paul and I arrived on Friday. Our Ryokan (Japanese style hotel—they are often very cheap as in this case) was recommended by the guidebook and was very nice. It was clean and inviting and the staff, though they spoke no English, were very helpful. We had some issues trying to make plane reservations for the trip so it was nice to have everything resolved and finally be there. We spent the afternoon exploring the main center of the city. There was one long street near our Ryokan with many touristy shops and restaurants. We walked for awhile and then got hungry so we ate at a ramen restaurant. The ramen was incredible! Mmmmm… I’m hungry just thinking about it! Since we were both tired from having to get up insanely early it was an early night and late morning for both of us.
So we started out slow and late Saturday morning, figuring we’d head up to the aquarium and a beach in the northern part of the island and catch a late bus back. The bus ride is three hours up but we had to wait one hour to transfer busses and ended up eating a not-so-appealing lunch from a convenience store in the middle of nowhere. So we get up to the aquarium in the early afternoon and right away check the time for the last bus down. We find that the last bus leaves a little after 4, giving us just over two hours! So we do the aquarium in one hour and the beach in another. The aquarium was very nice and the highlight was one big room with a huge tank of fish that certainly rivals the Boston aquarium. The beach was beautiful with clear water and we swam for a little bit (in really shallow water) and talked to this cute little Japanese kid who quizzed us on our Japanese, hehe. Then we returned to the bus to begin our 3 hour decent back down. Seven hours of traveling for two hours of fun was a little rough, but we arrived back in Naha city wanting to make more of our day. We stopped at an all you can eat yakitori restaurant. Yakitori is delicious meats you cook yourself at your table. Not only did they have meat but they had sushi, different traditional Japanese foods, a small salad bar, dessert, etc. We were hungry from our convenience store lunch so the money was well spent! Full and wanting to get up early the next day we went to sleep early.
The next day we got up early and decided to eat the Ryokan’s traditional Japanese breakfast. I loved it since it was big and had rice, fish, soup, and vegetables and I like big breakfasts. I ate it the rest of the time. Since Paul doesn’t like big breakfasts he only ate it once.
We headed to Shurijo, a beautiful castle near Naha city. Luckily we could take the monorail there. The castle is very old but was destroyed many times by fire and finally by The Battle of Okinawa. It was rebuilt in the 1990s and is absolutely beautiful.
We spent all morning till early afternoon there and then we crashed for a bit at the Ryokan. We then went to the city beach. It was nothing extraordinary, but it was close enough to walk to. As soon as we got there it started to rain. Once again our beach plans were thwarted by outside forces!! So we went to dinner and planned for Monday, where we would take a ferry to the Island of (insert name here). We get up early and take the ferry there (a one-hour ride on the fast ferry). We ask where a good beach is and walk to it. The beach was absolutely beautiful! The water was crystal clear, the beach was surrounded by forests, and there were only a handful of people there. After awhile I realized there were many beautiful fish in the water, so I went to the beach shack and bought a snorkel and goggles. Not only were there beautiful fish, but coral reefs as well! I must’ve spent at least an hour looking at all the beautiful fish and reefs. What luck! Paul shared my snorkel too. Then he buried me in the sand. We headed back to Naha in the afternoon. (Like the bus the last ferry back was absurdly early—but what can you do?).
That night we had an amazing Italian dinner right by our Ryokan. It was some of the best Italian food I’ve had since Italy!
On our last day it rained so we saw the Craft Museum (The museum was moved, so it took forever to find it!) and the Pottery Museum, as well as walked along an old street with many pottery shops selling traditional pottery (the sun had come out by then). We both bought a cup. Then we finished our vacation with a trip to the movie theater and a Starbucks where we ate a light dinner and played “go,” a Chinese game similar to chess.
We returned the next morning and ever since I've been very cold!
