Now here comes my favourite part of the trip and also my favourite city in Kagawa. Mitoyo is a small city located in the countryside of western Kagawa Prefecture and is also right in the heart of the Seto Inland Sea. Despite being a small city, there are so much charm and a lot to do here.
There are several ways to get to Mitoyo as shown from the image below. You can also visit here to get full details on visiting Mitoyo.
Image source : http://mitoyo.org/access/en/
We visited this vinegar factory, Nio Su in Nio Town that produces vinegar using rice grown in Kagawa prefecture. The smell of fermentation can be easily detected upon entering the compound.
We were also encouraged to climb up one of the barrel to have a look and take sniff to see what’s happening inside.
Apart from producing rice vinegar, they also produces interesting fruit vinegars that are really tasty to drink.
Chichibugahama beach is one awesome place you should not miss in Mitoyo. Given the title as one of the Top 100 sunset places in Japan, this is the place to catch breathtaking sunset. And if there is no wind to disturb the water surface, you can even take natural mirror photos just like the ones in Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. The best time to take mirror photos are said to be around 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes after sunset. We did not managed to get good mirror photos the day we visit since it was a little cloudy and slightly windy after a light rain.
Cafe de flots (our dinner venue) prepared a beautiful table setting at the beach of welcome drinks and handmade canapés with locally produced ingredients.
Right before heading inside Cafe de flots for our dinner, we witnessed one of the most breathtaking sunset. The sky turned into a beautiful pink and we can’t help but ran across the road to capture them into our cameras.
Picture doesn’t do justice to the awesome pink sunset but the photos were kept with #nofilter to give you an original feel of it.
It was to our surprise that we will be having dinner together with the Mayor of Mitoyo, Akashi Yamashita. He welcomed us into Cafe de flots and everything that happened in that cafe that very night was nothing short of amazing. From the delicious dinner that exceeded our expectations to the showstopper dessert that was assembled right in front of us on a tabletop and the interesting conversations with the officials who dined with us. It was truly a night to remember.
Standing in the middle is the Mayor of Mitoyo, Mr. Akashi Yamashita.
Dinner was thoughtfully prepared using local produce from Kagawa Prefecture & around the Seto Inland Sea.
This dish was inspired by the beautiful sunset at the beach.
The amazing dessert featuring big fat juicy peaches from Hosokawa Farm delivered to the cafe personally by Mr. Hosokawa.
The showstopper dessert table that was assembled in front of us like a performance.
Next post on Mitoyo part 2, I will share about my favourite part of the trip which we learned to make udon from scratch and peach picking at Hosokawa Farm. Stick around!