Yamadera Temple

Our first visit today was to Yamadera Temple, which means Mountain Temple in Japanese. You have to climb 1000+ steps to reach it, although passing numerous shrines on the way. It was almost raining but held off so was pleasant enough on the way up. The views at the top were amazing down to the valley below. At the top we saw some monkeys hanging about one of the shrines and despite warnings to stay away from them, someone was just a few feet taking photos and they got a bit agitated... I was keeping my distance!

We then headed to Matsushima Bay and took a boat tour around the hundreds of little islands there. We are now on the east coast of Japan where the the 2011 tsunami hit land. It was raining by now but the views were still decent. An overnight stay in Higashimatsushima in the hope that our plans come together ok for tomorrow.

An extra with the view of the viewpoint at Yamadera is attached.