Enoshima Island

Island Seafood

Enoshima is a great getaway that is only a 45 minute train ride from where we live. It is a cute beach town that has great shops (much like Cocoa Beach, Florida) and an awesome aquarium, which we will have to visit on another trip. 

We walked across a bridge to get to the island

The island itself had no car traffic; You had to travel by foot

We came to Enoshima to walk around the beautiful island. It is filled with winding stairs throughout which are lined with great Japanese shops and street food to include fresh clams, turban shell, abalone and squid. We were even given a sample of raw baby sardines, which I agreed to try and despite the pictures you see of me eating it, they really were good. It was like eating noodles, and it wasn't as salty as I had imagined. Like most foreign food, it is just the thought of what you are eating that is tough to swallow.  

One of the many shops to buy fresh seafood

Grilled squid

The baby sardines that I bravely ate

Street food consisting of grilled seafood

Shrines & Caverns

The island is filled with beautiful shrines; Benzaiten, the goddess of music and entertainment, is enshrined on the island. The island in its entirety is dedicated to the goddess, who is said to have made it rise from the bottom of the sea in sixth century.  

One of the many Shinto shrines

Each shrine has a "chozuya" where you rinse your hands

Outside of shrines, there is an area called o-mikuji, for you to grab a fortune after an offering

After hiking with Robby on our back, we came to the far side of the island where there was a great view of rocky cliffs and the ocean rolling in. There were beautiful caves, which lead us to more shrines. The caves were a tight squeeze as we had to duck down when the ceiling became too low. We were given a candle to light our way through the caverns, which was a nice touch to the adventure. 

 

At the top of the island, we enjoyed a beautiful view

Robby and I hiking through the rocky shores of the island

Rob walking through the caverns with his lantern

Rob and Robby outside the caverns

Enoshima is filled full of walkways lined with shops

Rob and Robby about to hike up one of the many winding stairs on the island

Japanese Cuisine 

To wrap up our day, we had dinner at a street side cafe on the island. Robby was so wiped out that he ended up sleeping through supper. Fresh grilled clams and turban shell were our appetizers. They were delicious and the turban shell tasted much like a conch, except at the very bottom of the shell was a long casing, sausage like substance... and my simple rule of thumb is to never eat anything that looks like poop, so we left it on our plate. 

Turban shell

Our main course was seafood tempura of fish and prawns with some Japanese root vegetables. We had rice (of course), misu soup, a seaweed salad and pickled vegetables then topped it off with a Japanese draft. It was really delicious and the atmosphere was very romantic. Perhaps that is why Robby dozed off for mommy and daddy :-) Our train ride home was just as the sun was setting, and on a clear day (which it was sunny, but quite hazy) you can see Fuji. We can't wait to go back and see the aquarium and revisit the island. Enoshima is surely a great Japanese gem!

Rob eating turban shell

Robby and I at dinner