Miyajima

So Miyajima was a day trip from our little hostel in Hiroshima. It was really neat! It's an island about 30 min (by train) south of the heart of Hiroshima. The island itself was regarded as sacred and is home to a huge shrine that is built so that during high tide it looks like the whole thing is floating on the water! It's really neat. And during low tide, you can walk out to it on the beach.


This lovely man in gold is what greeted us as we went to the dock to ride the ferry to Miyajima.


I though these old-timey boat men in contrast with the huge hotel behind them was pretty neat.


The O-Torii or Grand Gate. It looks like it's floating on the water, but there's actually a wooden path just below the surface and you can walk out to it during the low tide.


Me and the O-Torii.


Another amazing five-story pagoda. This one in stunning red.


The view from the middle of the mountain tops. We rode a cable car (ropeway) up to this point, but don't worry, we hiked a good way to get to the summit of Mt. Misen. Yeah. It was a hike.


More of the beautiful mountains.


Monkeys! They were everywhere at the top of the mountains. This baby was just so cute!


This monkey was not as nice. He gave me a stern talking to after I took the picture. But he's still cute.


Some of the bazillion stairs we climbed to get to the summit of Mt. Misen.


A great view from ALMOST the top.


This is me at the top of Mt. Misen. Yes. It was far!


Waterfalls on the way down...


Almost to the bottom!

Miyajima was a great escape to the great outdoors. We climbed to the top of the mountain! Definitely not something I was planning on, as was evidenced by my lack of good shoes... but alas. It was a great hike! And we saw monkeys!