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Published: March 24th 2014
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Miyajima Island is called "shrine island" because of the bulk of its fame resting in the "floating" torii (red gate) and shrine built into and on the water on the beach. It's not far from Hiroshima - only a 40 minute train ride and a 10 minute ferry - and tends to shut down completely after 5 pm. There are some ryokans to stay in on the island, but I did the commute thing for a day trip out to see the famous sites.
It was easy to get to the ferry and from there, easy to get around the island itself. Deer roam freely through the streets, and I took some funny photos of them trying to get into a shop, and hanging out in a toilet on the mountain (later), and I made a short stop on a touristy shopping street to grab some food. I found this yummy fish cake with asparagus, so I ordered it (in Japanese) and the shopkeeper was so impressed that I used the correct counter word that he asked me where I lived, and then talked to me for about five minutes as my food was being made. He was really nice,
and seemed excited that I was a foreign pseudo-tourist he could have a conversation with. The food was also really delicious.
As I ate, I walked towards the torii gate and took some pictures, and then traveled through Itsukushima Shrine, the shrine that looks like it's floating on the water. When I got there, it was very near high tide (before 11 am), so everything was full of water and looked really amazing. I was happy I chose to make a whole day trip out of it so I could see it at its peak. The walk through the shrine dropped me off near another site I wanted to hit, Daisho-in, a temple at the base of Mt. Misen, which was one of the most beautiful temples I've ever gone through. From there, the hiking path up the mountain started, and I'd deliberately given myself enough time to do it.
I wasn't really counting on the 2.5 km being ALL STAIRS, so I was sort of dying through the hike (showing how out of shape I am), and part of the way up I ran into a guy from England, who had a chat with me and then
let me follow him up so we could keep talking for maybe 1 km of the hike. He was going a lot faster than me, so I told him to go on ahead while I tried not to die by the side of the pathway. I took the ascent slower after that, and made it to the shrines near the top of the mountain itself. There was a kindergarten Japanese tour group there, and they all wanted to be friends with me after I told them, in Japanese, "do your best, alright?!" because then I was A FRIEND haha. They were adorable.
When I reached the actual top of the mountain (another 5 minute walk or so), I found my new friend sitting there, so I joined him and we decided to take the ropeway back down instead, as it had begun raining a bit and we definitely didn't want to take those stairs when it was slippery (knees go boom). The ropeway was definitely the best choice, and when we got to the base and went back out to the main street, I suggested we stop into a cute traditional restaurant for some food, and he agreed. I
got delicious unagi (eel) over a rice bowl, and it was MAJOR YUMS! Very happy.
It was low tide when we got back towards the entrance, so the majority of Itsukushima Shrine was now just sitting on the sand, which painted a much different picture than the morning had. We ended up having different ferry tickets for the way back across the water, but somehow ran right into each other upon disembarking on the other side - serendipity?! We took the train back to Hiroshima together, and then got coffee because the hike had tired both of us out (but was really pretty). I bummed around for awhile and accidentally went shopping in H&M before meeting back up with him for drinks. He was a really great guy, super fun to talk to, and fantastic travel company.
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