A Night and a Day in Miyajima

This post was meant to come way last week. In fact, I was working on uploading the photos below and creating a slide show when my hard disk in my little netbook totally burned up, taking with it any data I'd accumulated over the last three months. I did, luckily, rescue all my photos, however.

Anyway, back to my - now to be brief - report about Miyajima. I hadn't expected too much from this overly-photographed shrine and this overly-touristed island, but still it was one of the places I really wanted to see before leaving Japan. And I am so glad that I did!

Despite the tourists, the island- whose formal name is Itsukushima, but which is commonly known as Miyajima -has a rich history, and retains a lot of charm. And there are even places to escape from the crowds. On my first day there, I hiked up to the top of Mt. Misen, with gorgeous views all along the way. The worst, unluckiest part for me was the descent, when somehow, the two most obnoxious North American women were about 200 metres in front of me the whole way, just speaking as loudly, and inanely, as they possibly could. Still - it was a great hike.

Day two, after a perfectly perfect night spent at the Kinsui Besso, I wandered around waiting for sunrise, and enjoyed the ethereal calm of such an early morning outing. It was so simply sublime. Later, when the tourists started arriving on the ferries, I went hiking again, this time on a less popular trail, that took me over to a lovely, and unpopulated beach, where I cooled my feet in the water before heading back to the ferry by walking lazily along the coast and through the streets of town.

Of course, I took tons of photos of the magnificent Miyajima shrine.

Miyajima is easily done in a day trip from Hiroshima, but to be honest, staying at least one night on the island is the way to go. The whole character changes once the sun has gone down. After jostling with all the other tourists for some decent sunset photos, I went to an izakaya for dinner, not having to rush to cash the last ferry back to the mainland. And when I came out of the restaurant - I was totally alone, and the quiet streets, and could just sit and appreciate the great shrine in silence and solitude.

The Kinsui Besso (or Kinsui Villa) was also a really really great, comfortable place to stay. Located just across the street from the pier, they have a fantastic bath on the top floor, which was also, conveniently, where my cute little room was located too. They have accommodations for one, as well, at a good price, which is not so common for ryokan or minshuku, which generally cater to groups of two or more. The breakfast at Kinsui was also excellent. I definitely would stay there again.

I had a lot of photos, and have put them here in gallery format for ease of loading, etc... Click on the pic for a larger view!
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