Day two of my trip I visited Miyajima Island. The island is known as one of the Three Views of Japan. One of the highlights of the island is the floating torii gate at Itsukushima Shrine. Many people enjoy taking the ferry out to the island and spending the day there.

From Hiroshima Station I took JR out towards the ferry terminal, then I took a 10 minute ferry ride out to the island. One of the things I was looking forward to doing was visiting Mt. Misen, which at 535m above sea level, is the highest point of the island. I had already decided to pay to take the ropeway up the mountain, which gets you within a 30-minute hike to the summit. Little did I know, once I got to Miyajima I found out that the ropeway would be closed for repairs until the day after. I was definitely not impressed but somehow convinced myself that it would be worth it to hike to the top.

After picking up a map, I started my hike up on the Momijidani Course. There are three courses to get up the mountain. The Momijidani Course is supposedly the shortest but also the steepest one. Halfway up I was seriously contemplating whether it would be better if I just turn back. Lol. I don’t know how I managed to make it up the mountain, but I think I literally had to stop 20 times to catch my breath as I also had a 12lb backpack with me. (Other people only had a bottle of water in their hands and seemed like they were flying up the mountain.)

Thankfully I made it up the mountain relatively in one piece even though I was totally out of breath by the time I reached the Observatory. I was also thankful I didn’t encounter any of the venomous snakes which roam on the mountain. Overall I was glad I made the trip cause it was definitely worth it seeing the island from the top. I was also able to stretch and relax for a bit inside the Observatory before heading down again.

For the trip back, I took the Daisho-in Course, which is probably the most scenic route, although there were a ridiculous amount of stairs. (There’s actually signs that warn people about the amount of stairs hiking up that course.) Going down was a lot easier although it still took over an hour before I arrived back at Itsukushima Shrine. Once I got there I made a stop for lunch. It was good resting my legs in a nicely air conditioned environment. =P

Later that afternoon I toured Itsukushima Shrine and took pictures by the torii gate. It’s really different seeing the torii gate during high and low tide. During the low tide you could literally walk within a few metres of the gate and see it up close. However, I still preferred seeing it during high tide because I like how it looks floating in the water. =)

I was already pretty exhausted after spending my day in Miyajima. I got a quick snack of grilled oysters and bought some momiji manju before I headed back to the ferry terminal. Then it was a ride back towards Hiroshima Station and the shinkansen towards Nagoya.

Overall I had really enjoyed my trip out to Hiroshima. I think I covered a lot of ground within two days and I was happy I saw everything on my list. The only thing I wasn’t too happy about were my legs the day after the hike, but I guess it couldn’t be helped!