Author Archives: Bill

(Sorry. Really limited or non-existent Internet connection living on a boat in Indonesia.) Christian church carved in stone Zelve Open Air Museum

My tour group, consisting of an Indian couple from Kuwait, myself and a guide, started the day by going to Topkapi Palace. After passing through the outer gates and gardens, everyone wants to see the harem quarters. Since assassination was a possibility, various sultan’s would only spend part of the evening in the harem (Sultan’sContinue reading “The Old City – April 3”

Ok. Time to start posting. I was jet lagged for the first two days in Türkiye and then flying to different areas in the evenings, so blogging took a back seat. I have really limited/non-existent Internet connection here as well. … The flight was thankfully uneventful. I had booked a window seat and gotten aContinue reading “Arriving in Türkiye – April 2nd”

Hi, folks, it’s been a while. The Shikoku pilgrimage is now a fond memory even though it’s been less than a year since my nephew and I completed it. I’m certain I will go back and perform the pilgrimage once again, but flying solo. The current projected trip is the Fall of 2028. Since weContinue reading “So … welcome back to my travel blog”

I had originally planned to spend two nights at Koya, but the weather did not cooperate. It had rained the previous evening and was still raining in the morning. The forecast didn’t have the raining abating until sometime mid-afternoon. Our compatriot, Vincent, and Connor both had separate plans to leave for Kyoto. I and severalContinue reading “Bonus Content”

Many pictures, little writing. It was fairly easy to get up to Koya from Osaka, but, as often happens in travel, you end up having to figure out what you’re doing in the midst of doing it. I ended up paying to reserve a seat on a train before actually buying a ticket to getContinue reading “Day 58: Koyasan”

Another short post and no pictures. Today’s plan was simple. For me, get back to Temple 1, get to the main island of Honshu and find a place for the night with relative ease of access to Mt. Koya tomorrow. For Connor, collect as many missing stamps as he could. By asking on one ofContinue reading “Day 57: Temple 1”

Short post today and not many pictures. We’re heading back to Ryozenji (Temple 1), but at 40 kilometers it would have been difficult to do it in one day. I also had some business with the pilgrim shop Sumotoriya Asano located just below Kirihataji (Temple 10). After I get the final stamp on my scrollContinue reading “Day 56: Walking Day”

Although we “only” had one temple to visit to complete the hyaku–hachi (108) combination of the 88 Temple Pilgrimage plus the 20 Special Temples, the day turned out to be one of our toughest climbs. Starting at 287 meters-above-sea-level, over the course of 6.6 kilometers we were to climb to 884 meters up some ofContinue reading “Day 55: Bekkaku Temple 20”

Well, we “officially” finished the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. As far as the official pilgrimage goes, you only need to visit the 88 temples, but, of course, we’ve added some of the extra elements. We still have Bakekku Temple 20 to visit tomorrow which will complete the 20 Bekkaku Temples portion of the pilgrimage. WeContinue reading “Day 54: Main Temples 87 and 88”