A Beautiful Island.....

Day 12

Oooh - it's coming to the end of our holiday.

Today we went to Itsukushima - a small island off the coast of Hiroshima which is more popularly known as Miyajima (means Shrine Island in Japanese). 


Itsukushima is well known for the Itsukushima Shrine and the huge Torii gate which is out at sea and at high tide looks like it is floating.  When the tide is out, you can walk out to the gate (avoiding all the puddles).

The island is also known for the deer that live there and are free to wander the island as they please. There are signs all over the island telling people that these are wild animals and we are not allowed to feed them. They do, however like to eat paper and are known to be partial to the odd tourist map here and there, so you have to be careful when trying to work out where you are !!!!

The journey to Miyajima room us just over three hours, most of it on a bullet train and the last part on a local train.  And as has happened over most of this holiday, it seems most of Japan were also going to Miyajima today ..... And a LOT of school children. 

Basically, today was all about wandering around and just checking out the sights. We were making our way along the front to the Torii Gate, when I was approached by a teenage school girl with a clipboard!! She asked me in perfect English if I had a few minutes to answer some questions for her school project. Of course ....... She only wanted to know my name, where I was from, how many times I had been to Japan and why I liked it and what was I looking forward to in the island.  I told her momiji manju cakes and kokeshi dolls ...... The simple pleasures in life!!!

She was incredibly polite and I was given an origami crane she made for my trouble ..... Scott by this time was half way across the island ....... 

The deer had a great way of sneaking up on Scott. There were a few moments where the deer just appeared and frightened the life out of him. I think it is sport for them!!!  He was almost a nervous wreck by the time we left!!!

The tide was out when we got there, so we were able to walk right up to the Torii Gate. Again, we noticed that people have been putting money in holes in the shrine and the area around the shrine is littered with yen, but no-one touches it ... Amazing. It's quite a thrill to be so close to this Torii Gate .....

We walked round the island and then made our way back into the main hub.... The part where all the shops are!!!!  Whilst in one shop, the ladies behind the counter suddenly started clapping. As I turned, I saw the back of a rickshaw with a bride and groom on it!!  We did see them again later on as they travelled round the island on a rickshaw until I assume they went to the hotel for the reception. 

I'm now on the hunt for kokeshi dolls. I have found in the past that there are some unique dolls on Miyajima that I have never seen anywhere else, so I was on the look out for some unique ones..... And I found them - them being the operative word...... I have bought three!!!!! Well, Scott left me alone in the shop and I couldn't help myself!!!

We are now in the heart of the tourist area and there are shops everywhere. I bought some momoji manju cakes and Scott got himself a bacon and cheese wrapped eel - each to their own!!! I go for chocolate filled cakes and he goes for eel!!!

There was this huge shop, where a man was carving wood .... This was one of his works .... Wonder how long this took!?!

We passed the largest rice spoon in the world (you've seen it before on my other blogs) and started to make our way back for the 15:15 ferry back to the mainland ...... Along with the rest of the island!!!

The train gods must have been looking down on us today, cos though we hadn't planned our journey back time wise, we seem to catch each train easily. We only waited a few minutes for the local train from Miyajima to Hiroshima and as we got to Hiroshima the Shinkansen to get us to Shin- Osaka was arriving in 10 minutes and finally we got to Shin-Osaka at 6pm and the Shinkansen to Kyoto was due at 6:15 .... Perfect!! We were back in the apartment by 7. 

Scott is now chilling on the sofa watching a programme about earthquakes and tsunamis.... It's all in Japanese so he's only looking at the pictures ......

Last day tomorrow, so we are doing a Kyoto day where we will catch up on some stuff ... Another trip to Tokyu Hands and another trip to Nishiki Market for some more tea... Then back home to pack - booooo. So sad ... 

So until next time ... Oyasumi Nasai xxx