Day 7 - Matsuyama - 15 Dec 2016

We had brekkie at 730am after which, we checked out and left the hotel at about 920am.

We drove about 2 hours to our first destination - Onomichi (Senkoji Park). It was a place up the mountain and its panoramic view of the mountains, sea and the ports were stunning. There is the observation platform, the Onomichi City Museum of Art and the Literature Museum which we missed. There is also the Senkoji temple. The highlight would be our lunch at the restaurant called Petit Anon. It was lunch with a view and both the food and the service were amazing.

We left Onomichi at about 130pm. We drove for another 45 minutes to Ikuchijima Island. It was a scenic drive that passed through several other islands. Apparently, the map code in our itinerary caused the GPS to lead us to Kousanji temple. Upon arrival, we walked through the temple to visit The Hill of Hope. It is like a garden with open air sculptures that are made of marble. There were a lot of space and the kids just ran and monkeyed around at the various monuments.

We left Kousanji at about 345pm and drove for another 2 hours to reach Hotel Tsubakikan, our ryokan-styled accommodation for the night. Dinner was at 630pm and we had their set meal. It was yummy.

After dinner, we went to a nearby spot for foot bath (足汤). The feeling was awesome as you could feel your feet's aches and pains melted away. We got up after half an hour and went shopping at the shopping arcade near Dogo Onsen Honkan (one of Japan's oldest and most famous hot springs). Many shops were still open when we were there but there weren't many people. Probably, most of them were relaxing at the onsen.

We got back to the hotel at 930pm. As usual, we did our usual nightly routines such as getting the kids ready for bed before we rested.