After having cancelled our planned early 2020 Kyushu trip due to the pandemic, we finally made it to the Goto Islands a few weeks ago. It was magical, and everything we hoped it would be. We took the ferry from Nagasaki and arrived at Shin-Kamigoto, picked up a car, and started exploring the island.
First stop, the hidden and peaceful Kashiragashima church. It’s one of the twelve Hidden Christian monuments in Nagasaki recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can’t photograph inside the church, so I drew a sketch of the pretty ceiling structure and let the atmosphere sink in. We were the only visitors.
We spent the next few days visiting different sites around the island, watching sunrises and sunsets and sampling the local delicacies. The water was beautiful (but a bit too cold to swim in) and the views of the sea at any time of the day was spectacular.
I sketched the first sunrise we saw, the light was neon pink and orange over the sea…
This is one of the beaches we visited, we almost always had them to ourselves. The water was turquoise and the sand was soft. Incredible.
From here, we took another ferry to our next destination - Ojika Island…