Miyajima

[Taylor]

Our trip to Miyajima, an island about 30 minutes away from Hiroshima, was Julie’s favorite day of the trip.

Miyajima is one of three national scenic treasures of Japan (one of the others is Matsushima Bay, a place Julie and I had the pleasure of visiting and blogging about in November).  It is a beautiful island famous for the floating shrine, an abundant population of deer, historical buildings, a scenic hike up a mountain, temples, a glorious view of the ocean and other islands in the vicinity, and monkeys.

Let’s start with the floating shrine.

I hope you like pictures.  Wanna see some deer?

Sure enough...

Let’s add some old, gorgeous buildings to the mix:

What was that about a hike?  Ah yes, we took photos of that, too.  Along the way we saw some cool statues.

"Are you lost? Follow my nose."

Finally, we reached the top of Mt. Misen, 530 meters above sea level.  We took many pictures at the top before taking the ropeway back down.  Oh, and we met a new friend.

Our new friend.

Not Taylor's favorite part.

Thus concludes Miyajima.

Tags: deer, floating shrine, hiking, miyajima, monkeys, mt. misen, ropeway, scenic view