Yesterday evening it began to rain and that continued for the rest of the day. We tried to follow our roadbook by first driving to Katsurahama Ryuogu Shrine, located at the edge of the sea but as we approached the area it was obvious that there was not a lot to see because of the weather conditions. We skipped Mount Godai as the viewpoint was well in the very low hanging clouds and there would be nothing to see but fog. As the Makino Botanical garden has a greenhouse and a museum we decided that at least we would be able to see that part of the gardens. It turned out to be even better, the walkway connecting the entrance to the museum was covered so we could see part of the garden without getting wet. The museum tells about the life and work of the founder of the garden, botanist Tomitaro Makino. The greenhouse hosts many different plants from giant bamboo to small cacti and colorful flowers.
Since it kept raining we decided to visit a shopping mall in the area, at least it would be dry and we could take a look at some special and funny typical Japanese shops (candy, some toys… )
We returned to the hotel to park the car and then set out on foot to the castle. More than half of the 700 meter walk we could do along a covered shopping street. The cherry blossoms on the castle grounds lost most of their flowers as Sakura is coming to an end.
One of the few sights in Kochi is the trio of samurai in front of the train station, as we got there the rain was falling harder so we walked as fast as we could back towards the hotel with just one more quick stop at the Harimaya Bridge.
All that was left was go up to our room and dry our clothes. Tomorrow we leave to the Southwestern point of the island where the weather should clear up. Longer term predictions are for more sunny and warm weather;