Miyajima

My second day at Hiroshma prefecture was a trip to Miyajima island. Getting there took me around 50 minutes via Line 2 Hiroden streetcar (from Tokaiichi-machi to Miyajimaguchi) and a ten minute ferry ride to the island. 

I was an early bird! Having reached the island before 9:30am, only a few people were there, shops and restaurants were still closed. It was a Monday so I was expecting crowd to be less until afternoon came.

The grand torii of Itsukushima-jinja at high tide seemed to float on the sea.

At my back is the shrine. Entrance fee is 300 JPY.

I decided to roam around the town to get the island feel ala Japan. Clearly, I was one of the very few visitors on this street with surrounding establishments still closed.

There are a lot of trekking paths. I walked around and found many deers freely roaming and appear to be harmless.

Not only in the forest, they are also in public areas.

While looking for a place to drink, I chanced upon several interesting paths.

 A local store was selling soft cream with sweet potato. Instead of mixing altogether, the presentation was done this way which correctly describes its name. After all, it was not named as sweet potato ice cream.

Hiroshima is also known for their massive oysters. This delicious serving of grilled oysters costs 500 JPY. 

The island is mountainous which explains the steep climb. This was on my way to the five-storey Pagoda.

I was aiming to trek higher ground until this sign showed up. Of all days, the ropeway was out of service from the date of my only day in Miyajima. Instead of going through all the climb in my wornout Toms, I descended back to town before I get lost knowing there were only a few trekkers at that time and before my phone lose power. It was still morning so I was confident I will do just fine.

By 3pm, the tide had gone low allowing the Torii to show all its glory.

Having gotten too many selfies, I took courage asking some random teen girls to take a photo of me with the Torii.

All I waited was for the tide to go low and get a closer look of the Torii. As much as I wanted to wait for the sunset, I went back to Hiroshima city to dine.

Miyajima was the highlight of my Hiroshima trip. The culture of island life was just interesting and totally different from the usual Japan I see.

I still hope to see more. One day, I will see myself in Hokkaido.