Day 9 - Climb Mt Misen, see the "A-bomb dome"

Saturday morning.  One of the recommended things to do in Hiroshima was to make a trip to Itsukushima Island, approx. 30 minutes south of Hiroshima.  This island is kind of a touristy place, but was recommended for it's large wooden welcome gate (a "Torri") floating off the shore of it's main town, the wild deer that roamed the city, a large temple, quaint shops, and Mt. Misen.  The mountain involved some hiking, but allegedly it had a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding area.

And, as a plus - there was a JR train route that went right to the ferry dock, and a JR ferry that makes the 15 minute crossing to the island. Both the train and ferry were covered with our JR Rail Pass.  Bonus.

We elected to try the buffet breakfast at our hotel, a total of 950 yen per person (or, $8.50 or so).  It wasn't too bad - at least it had a coffee machine.  Other than that, you could have some eggs (a very small omelet or scrambled), some fried fish, some kind of soft bacon, salad, yogurt, or french fries (the closest you can get to hash browns in Japan).  There were pickled veggies and some other things available.  We'll go to Matsuya tomorrow.

So, the rest of this post is pretty photo heavy.  I'll do some short narration:

Below is the ferry we took across to Itsukushima, and some of the views during the crossing.

The deer on the island are wild, but rather tame.  They will apparently eat just about anything.  We witnessed one eat a wrapper from some kind of chocolate treat.

The main village, as we walked toward the base of the hill.  My plan was to get up to the Mt. Misen hike first, and get that out of the way.  Then, we could wander through the town.

There were a couple ways to get to Mt. Misen.  First was a all-inclusive hike from the town.  That would take about 90 minutes to 2 hours.  My feet weren't up to that, so we went with the second option: a ropeway (or, cable cars).

From the town, it was about a 10 minute walk through a park to the first cable car station.  The park had some nice bridges and waterfalls.

The first station operated circulating cars carrying 4 to 6 people at a time.  The round trip was 1800 yen per person (about $16.50).  Well worth it.

The second leg (with a transfer station half way up) changed to an alternating gondola car system, with each car carrying about 30 people.  Fortunately, it wasn't too busy when we went up.

At the drop off was an intermediate station with air conditioning, restrooms, and the obligatory vending machines.  From here, the hike would start.

Just outside the door of this intermediate station, there was a small rack with bamboo walking sticks.  Donna and I both took a stick.  My left foot was still bugging me, and I though having this stick to lean on would help.  It did.

We started the hike, expected to take 30 minutes to the top.  The trail was in pretty good shape, despite the obvious popularity.  We weren't the only ones up there.  The trail had some pavement or stone steps, exposed drain systems, and roots/rocks right in the trail, requiring traversing.  Temps were in the 80's, and the humidity was significant.

Many shrines were on this mountin.  Here's a small one we just happen to see through the trees.

The half way point of the hike had a large shrine, and a couple of vendors selling water or shaved ice.  It was a good place to stop and rest the feet.

Here is a downed tree on the path.  We just had to go around it.

At the top, we weren't disappointed. Great views around the region from 535 meters up.  And, there was a multi-story observatory on top to provide a great, unobstructed view.

Going down is always worse than going up.  Lots of steep, uneven stairs made from chiseled out rock.

Another temple on the way down.

At the intermediate station, we got back on the cable car, and headed to the bottom.  My idea to do the mountain first paid off - a the bottom, the line for people wanting to go up was probably 100 people deep.  There was only about 10 in line when we went up.

We made our way back to the town through the Momijidani Park.

In the town, we just wandered around and took in the sights.  Lots of deer, not too concerned about the people around them.

After having some street food (meat on a stick, very good!), we made our way to the ferry, crossed, and went back to Hiroshima.

Since we weren't sure of our timing tomorrow (leaving for Osaka), we decided to go to the Peace Park tonight.  Making our way from the rail station, we took the Hiroden Street car to the park.  It left from the Hiroshima station, and one of the stops was right at the A-Bomb dome.

Over in the Hiroshima Peace Park are several memorials.  One of them is the Peace Flame, which has been burning continuously since 1964. The flame will be put out when all of the nuclear weapons in the world have been destroyed.

Unfortunately, I suspect this flame will be burning a long time.

Peace fountain.

After getting some food at Matsuya, we headed back to the hotel and hit the sack. A lot of ground was coverd today.  Tomorrow we head to Osaka.