Miyajima
With an early start, our plan was to visit Miyajima today before heading into Osaka. To get to Miyajima we needed train half an hour south of Hiroshima, before boarding a ferry that would take us the rest of the way.
Miyajima is an island that is known for its many shrines, most notably the Itsukushima Shrine with its floating torii gate. There is also a ropeway that takes you up Mount Misen for some extraordinary views of the region! We aimed to do both today.
Floating Torii Gate
After arriving in Miyajima, it was a short walk from the port to the Floating Torii Gate. It was low tide when we arrived, so I was a little bummed we weren’t able to see it “floating”. But it did give us a chance to walk out to it and get some pictures of it from a spot where water would normally be!
After taking some pictures of the Tori Gate, we headed towards the ropeway station towards the summit. We wanted to get to the top, so we decided that if we had time on our way back that we’d visit the Itsukushima Shrine.
The ropeway is actually two segments. So it was a short walk from the town to the first ropeway station, where we purchased our tickets. The ticket is good for both segments. The first ropeway takes you about halfway up the mountain. Then at that station you walk up another short flight of stairs to board the next gondola that takes you the rest of the way! At first we marveled at the view from the Gondola and started taking pictures from inside, but soon realized when we arrived that the view from where we arrived was MUCH better.
From here you get a great view of the area surrounding Miyajima. The surrounding area is beautiful, and in a way reminded me a bit of home on the west coast! It couldn’t get any better than this right?
Hike to top of Mount Misen
After we had finished taking some photos, we found a hike that looked like it would take us to an even higher point on the mountain. It wasn’t a very lengthy hike as it was under a kilometer. But there was quite a bit of elevation so while it only took us about 45 minutes, Gimpy, her hubby, Salmonella and FunkyCat got a good dose of my complaining all the way up 🙂
About halfway through the hike, we arrived at a small plateau with two shrines on it. One is called Misen Hondo and the other Reikado Hall. In Reikado Hall, it’s said that the flame inside has been burning for 1200 years.
We spent a little time here checking out the two shrines (and resting) before continuing to the top of the mountain. As we arrived at the top, the view was even better than the one we had seen at the ropeway station! From here you can see 360′ around the whole island and really absorb the breathtaking beauty of the area! We spent a good amount of time taking it all in and snapping photos!
Sadly it was time to make our way back down the mountain. The hike down didn’t seem as rough as the hike up, so it was filled with less complaints and more conversation.
Floating Torii
By the time we got back down to the water the tide had come in! So we indeed did get to see the Torii gate in its floating glory! We stopped for a while and to enjoy this marvel of a shrine!
We were also visited by a few of the wild deer that reside on the Island.
Before heading back, we took some time to stroll through the main street of Miyajima near the ferry terminal. We had a chance to check out some stores and also to sample a Momiji Manju, which is a sweet Japanese dumpling shaped like a leaf and filled with custard. This was something that is unique to Miyajima
Travel
We caught the ferry and train back to Hiroshima where we visited a small Udon shop before getting on another Shinkansen!
This time we were bound for Himeji Castle. We boarded the train and was enjoying the ride when we realize we had boarded one of the trains that would stop at every stop on the line. It would mean that by the time we arrived in Himeji, we wouldn’t have made it in time to get into the castle. So, we decided instead to head straight for Osaka, with plans to go tomorrow.
Genroku Sushi!
It was the early evening by the time we arrived in Osaka. We made our way to our airBNB and got settled in a bit. First thing on our list was food and seeing as Salmonella lived in Osaka for 8 months he knew exactly where to go. When we arrived, we arrived in an area between Namba and Dotonburi (Two major areas in Osaka). It was busy and full of lights and different places to eat and shop!
Salmonella led us to this small sushi restaurant called Genroku Sushi Sennichimae shop. This is a place where there is a conveyor belt that loops around the whole restaurant. There are sushi chefs in the middle of the restaurant making sushi and placing it on the belt. As they loop around, if you see something you like, you can take it off the belt and start eating it. At the end of the meal the number of plates you have in front of you is how much the meal will cost.
We all pigged out quite a bit and ended up with stacks of 13-15 plates each. There was a lot of gluttony to be had this day!
Explore Dotonburi
We needed to walk off the amount of food we had just devoured. So we strolled into the Dotonburi area to see what it was all about! It was super busy with tons of people. There were tons of food stores, shopping and simply crowds and crowds of people. We spent a good amount of time walking through the streets and enjoying the vibe. Eventually we parted ways with Gimpy and her hubby and headed back to the our apartment for some well deserved rest. We’d be visiting Hemiji tomorrow.
Tomorrow we were excited to be heading to Himeji to make up for the miss today.