Day 6 - Magical Miyajima island

Day 5

The first rainy day of my trip, however I was excited to do my daytrip to a special place. Miyajima is a small island outside of Hiroshima and a Unesco World Heritage Site. It is packed with century old Shinto shrines in a scenery of green mountain hills. Traveling from Hiroshima with both train and ferrie are free with the JR-Pass (JR San-yo line to Miyajima-guchi Station). Starting with the view from the ferrie, the mountains were shrouded in fog and the orange Torii shrine in the distance seems to be floating on the water. That’s where we are going! Once arrived I walked from the doc through the narrow uphill streets with many eateries, street stalls and souvenir shops. Along the water there are several bright orange Shinto shrines. A sacred place were you are intended to wash your hands and mouth with holy spring water before entrance. A Shinto wedding ceremonie took place outside one of the shrines. A little further uphill there is this view on the five-story Pagoda!

Super entertaining are the tamed deers that walk freely over the island and come to you when you least expect it. They are very cheeky, this one snatched my map when I tried to take a selfie. Oishie!

I did give him a piece of banana and it stayed with me as a loyal buddy for the rest of my mountain hike, without bothering for more food. Unfortunately the ropeway up to the top at 530m was closed, because of the weather conditions. They say monkeys live at the top. All in all, Miyajima is a very picturesque island with some of the best Japanese architecture. The nature looks like one big spiritual garden and it’s adorable to watch each tourist having their own ‘battle’ with the gentle, but cheeky deers. I went there for a few hours, but there are so many breath-taking views and secret hidden surprises.. I would recommend to spend a full day on Miyajima.