Japan's Most Secret Hidden Trail - Katerina Giannouka

Travel Stories with Moush

Travel storyteller and hotelier Katerina Giannouka joins the podcast to share transformative journeys across Japan, South Africa, Mongolia, Greece, Norway, and beyond. She details spiritual

Key takeaways

• Katerina Giannouka describes Japan's Kumano Kodo trail as a UNESCO World Heritage pilgrimage walked by emperors and samurai for over a thousand years, featuring temple stays and traditional ryokans.
• She highlights Cape Town as an unmissable destination known for Table Mountain, vibrant cross-cultural communities, and exceptional sourdough and coffee scenes.

Main topics

• Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail
• Cape Town travel experiences

Notable quotes

"It's a cleansing ritual. So there are many different ways to access the trail and walk sections of it or all of it."

Conclusion

The episode offers listeners a masterclass in intentional travel, blen

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Hello and welcome to Season 7 of Travel Stories with Mosh. In a year that has seen its fair share of highs and uncertainties, travel has taken on a deeper meaning. It is no longer about where we go, but how we connect with places, with people, but most of all with ourselves. At Travel Stories with Mosh, our effort has always been to inspire and remind us how incredible and truly beautiful this world is. So if you enjoy these conversations, please subscribe and follow us on this journey. Speaker 2 (0:41) Hello and welcome to this fabulous season of Travel Stories with Mosh. Well, today's guest is someone who knows hotels inside out, quite literally. Katerina Giannouka is a passionate hotelier who has worked with some of the biggest names in the hospitality industry for over 20 years. A hotel boss turned travel storyteller, Katerina joins us in the podcast today to tell us what makes hotel stays and travel experiences unforgettable memories. Katerina, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. Obviously excited to go on this journey with you around the world. But let's begin with asking you about hotels because you are a very passionate hotelier. Thank you for having me. And I'd Speaker 1 (1:30) like to share things that are really personal to me. They may not be about my favorite hotel brands, but they're really experiences that have moved me, have stirred me and take me back to places that I want to go again. Speaker 2 (1:42) Fantastic. And that's what we want. I mean, we want, you know, stories that have stayed with you, have... maybe transformed you but have been meaningful in many ways than one. Now, of course, you know, we will talk a little bit about hotels because we want to know the inside stories from you. But let's begin with this journey. Let's start with the very first question of the podcast. Where will you be taking us on a journey today? I Speaker 1 (2:05) will take you somewhere that left such an impression on me. Speaker 2 (2:09) I Speaker 1 (2:10) went some years ago. It wasn't so recently, but I want to go again and take my son on the journey. It's called Kumano Kodo. It's a trail. It's Speaker 2 (2:20) a Speaker 1 (2:20) pilgrimage trail in Japan, in the Wakayama Prefecture. Speaker 2 (2:25) And Speaker 1 (2:25) it's one of two UNESCO World Heritage Trails, the other being Santiago de Compostela in Spain, that maybe is a little more well-known because it's been, I guess, it's easier to access. But Kumano Kodo is a trail that's been walked by hundreds of thousands of people for over a thousand years. from emperors to samurai to villagers to us. And it's a cleansing ritual. So there are many different ways to access the trail and walk sections of it or all of it. And the emperor of Japan used to do it annually as a ritual to cleanse oneself and to connect with spirituality. And it leads to three shrines, three Shinto shrines, and each one is more majestic and impressive than the last. think vermilion pagodas and waterfalls and just lush nature. But one can do it too. I found that it was something so unique because it's spiritual as well as sights and scents and food and culture. But it's really special. I did it some time ago. We started in Mount Koya, which is a little village on the top of a mountain. It has over 100 stone temples in this village and it is the most important from a Buddhism perspective. 100 stone temples? Yes, yes. I think it's more than the villages. But you stay Speaker 2 (3:49) in a temple. There isn't like hotels in this place. And it's okay to stay in the temple? Yes, Speaker 1 (3:55) you have to stay as a guest. You observe the cuisine, so it's all vegetarian. You're invited to join morning prayers, which is quite meditative. And you go to bed really early because the monks wake up really early to meditate and pray. become part of the community for your stay and there's a cemetery there that's the most important cemetery in japan and at night cemetery in a wonderful way in japan cemetery is a place where people can go to to be spiritual and to meet and to chat they're quite social places and at night they light it up with thousands of lanterns and you can walk through the cemetery and it's ancient it's got moss covered stones and it's beautiful So the trail, it's sort of this mix between ancient and modern because whilst it is an ancient trail walked by many, you also don't have to carry your backpack or a very heavy backpack because it's supported by something called kuro neko. That's a little delivery service. So each place you stay, because it's probably four or seven nights of hiking, the little Japanese truck brings your luggage so that when you arrive at your next ryokan, because it's in traditional Japanese, guest houses your luggage is there waiting for you so the whole the whole experience is really special I mean these you stay at ryokans along the way traditional guest houses and often they're owned by a little old couple and they're very proud to show you what this kaiseki meal that they prepare for you there's vegetables from their garden or fish from the river and even though they probably can't speak a word of English. I've had experiences where they'd be little old Oxford dictionary, all yellowed pages, and they'd be trying to converse and tell us things over dinner. Some of the rooms are very, very basic. You're staying literally on tatami mats with rice paper walls, very, very simple washing facilities. But being able to hike all day and you arrive at these ryokans, really sort of they're the salvation after a long day's hike. And you're seeing... seed of forests and mists or mountains there's very very few people hiking rivers that have bubbling volcanic hot water within them and freezing water just below these pavilion you know the vermilion pagodas and everyone holds these sticks and you get little stamps along the way that you find these points where you can stamp as as you go along the route It's absolutely mesmerizing. That's such a beautiful Speaker 2 (6:17) journey. I'm at a loss of words because, you know, people on the podcast take us to places or experiences, but a trail like this, which is also kind of, you know, a pilgrimage and it's over a few days. I mean, that's something I've never heard of. It's such a beautiful experience. And then Kaiseki. I Speaker 1 (6:35) mean, how does it get better than that? The food's amazing. Yeah. And it's the combination of sense and emotions, physical hiking. It's not easy hiking. And then Japan that just has this ability to do everything. Perfectly, meticulously, craftsmanship. I feel like having to say that there's no signs of, there's no plastics around. It's really connected to nature. And people respect Speaker 2 (7:02) nature as they're walking along. So you would say that the trail sort of encompasses everything. It's like lots of sights around, beautiful sights around, lots of nature, great food. And at the same time, it's also a pilgrimage, right? Yeah, and keeping fit Speaker 1 (7:16) because keeping fit when I travel or being... Speaker 2 (7:19) Having wellness is important to me. And over how many days was this trail? Speaker 1 (7:23) We hiked for six days. You can do variations. There's one route that comes from Mount Koya that I mentioned before and joins the trail. That's the toughest route. You're going over several peaks and there's elevations of a thousand meters. Or you can do an easy hike. So it's really accessible for everyone. You can do a three-day hike. So it just depends where you pick it up. But you want to see the three Shinto shrines at the end. Speaker 2 (7:44) Wow, I love that. I mean, Kumano Kodo Trail, we started on such a great note on this episode. I can't wait to know what else you're going to talk about, you