Day 63 – Hiroshima
Today we went back to the Peace Park with our Canadian friend, just to take some more snaps during the day. The Park was a lot busier than last night with everyone crowded around the Atomic Bomb Dome.
Flame of Peace
From there, we walked to Hiroshima Castle, which is close by. The Castle is a lot smaller than the one in Kyoto, but it was actually there, unlike the one in Takayama. There was a small exhibit inside he corridors but unfortunately everything was in Japanese, so we did not understand what it was displaying. One of the keeps has been rebuilt, which looked really good. You can go up, but we opted not to.
We then went to the island of Miyajima. This required us to take a tram and a ferry. We found out that it was actually cheaper to buy a Tram Pass so we did. The island is home to the famous Torii gate that is in the water during high tide called the Itsukushima Floating Torii Gate.
Views from ferry These guys are everywhere!
When we arrived, it was low tide and heaps of people were right next to the gate taking photos. We took some photos and then decided to come back at sunset as that was meant to be an ideal time.
We then climbed the Mount Misen Trail, which is close by and took us to a view point at the top of Mount Misen. The climb was steep, with inclines and stairs all the way to the top.
Close to the top there is a Reika-do Eternal Fire Hall. The flame here is meant to have been lit for the last 1,200 years. This is the fire that was used to light the Flame of Peace in the Hiroshima Peace Park. We ended up have some tea that was boiling on top of the fire, as given to us by a friendly local lady.
We raced back down the trail to get to the Torii Gate by sunset, but we were disappointed. One, it was still low tide and two, the sun was setting way of to the right. It was still a nice sight but could have been better.
Then after we were back in Hiroshima doing some groceries shopping for dinner and we saw these! Luckily we weren’t that home sick to pay that much 😛
Tim Tams…$5AUD a pack!!!
