Miyajima

After resting up at the Benten no Yado Itsukushima, we were ready to take a tour of the island.

Here are a few shot taken as we make our way one shopping area leading to Itsukushima Shrine.

And we are getting closer....

The 5 story Pagoda.

after taking a brief look at the area at the back of the shrine, we decide to take the trip to islands peak, to get a good look at the surrounding area, I really enjoyed this part of the trek

Now we are heading up the moutain via cable car......

and after a second cable car we are at the 2nd to last peak, we take a break here to take photos and see some of the wild life.

This was the first of many monkeys that we say on the island. It was shaking the hell out of this pole, I should have taken a video!

Now here was the not so fun part :-( . I my wife wanted us to walk to the highest peak on the island, which was about 1.2km from the 2nd peak. The distance would not have been so bad if 1) we didn't have to go down, and then go back up and 2) if I had prepared myself for a hike on my vacation! I was miserable enough that I forgot to take pictures on the way up to the peak!

1.2Km later and we are almost at the peak! We stop here to take in some of the views before we each take turns going to the and of the trail at the top of the mountain.

The views were even better from up here! After hanging around the peak for about 15 minutes, I was glad my wife had us come all the way to the top!

A small shrine between the peak and the rest area.

And now back down the mountain....I took pictures this time!

Can you make out the snake?!

More monkeys!

And the cable ride back down.

By the time we made our way back to Itsukushima shrine, it was low tide.

And it then it was time to eat. One of the interesting things in Japan are the displays with models of what each dish looks like. I don't know if it makes it harder or easier to choose what to eat, but at least you know what you are getting into!

Beef Donburi!

Really enjoyed Miyajima! A beautiful island with lots to see. After lunch we hurry up to catch our ferry so that we can head to our next stop, Nagasaki.

Benten no Yado Itsukushima - Miyajima

I'm dedicating this post to the Benten no Yado Itsukushima, the hotel that we had the please of residing for our one night stay in Miyajima. I stayed at a few hotels (or Ryokan), but this was the most memorable.





My impressions of the hotel began with the lobby pictured below. When we arrived, we were required to remove our shoes at the lobby of the hotel, which was a first for me. Also instead of standing at the counter to fill out forms and waiting for our room keys, we were seated and given beverages while we completed the checking and the attendants prepared our info. It was really different.







Here is a view from or window at during the late evening.....


...and agian at sunset.

As I mentioned in my Gero post, I'm not a big fan of public baths, so we booked some time at one of the private baths at the hotel.


After we finished up with the onsen, it was time for dinner in a private room in the eat hall.


What's on the menu?















Dessert

And a picture of our room. The hotel staff made our room up while we busy eating.


Another view from our room in the AM.


And what we had for breakfast.



Hotels courtyard that leads to the public outdoor onsen.



And if you can't tell that I liked the view from our room, here is another shot before we headed out for site seeing.



We really enjoyed out stay at the Benten no Yado Itsukushima. The accomodations were excellent and the staff was very friendly and the service was great. I would definetly recommend it to anyone staying in Miyajima.