I took a bus to the city and continued on foot. The city reminded me a bit if Amsterdam. Cablecars and lots of bicycles throughout the city centre! And also rivers and such going around the city. I arrived at the hostel and grabbed a few maps and brochures to plan my next day. I soon saw that a lot of it was within walking distance, each next stop would be 10-20min on foot.
After a good night sleep, I started my day! Peace memorial museum and park, the atomic bomb dome, the Hiroshima castle, Shukkeien garden, a shrine and a historic walking trail up the mountain.
The memorial museum was very impressive and a lot bigger and with a different set up than the one I went to in Nagasaki a few years ago. Horrific stories and pictures to tell the story of those hit or affected by the atomic bomb. Afterwards I walked through the memorial park which was very peaceful and then to the atomic bomb dome. A building that was hit and partially still stood.
I then walked to the castle, aware of bicycles crossing the same streets. The castle was nice on the outside but very similar to castles I'd seen before in Japan. The inside exhibition was ok but the views were beautiful!! Well worth all those steps up! My next stop was the Shukkeien garden, a Japanese garden. Very beautiful but most of all peaceful. And guess what...cherry blossom trees...a lot!!
On to my next stop, a shrine but most of all the walking trail behind it. To get to the shrine itself took about 50 steps I think, which was fine. I walked around for a bit and soon saw the Torii gates (the red gates) which looked like the start of the walking trail. It was a pretty warm day and as I started walking up the stone steps, I started wondering why I was doing this to myself..yet again haha. It was hot and the steps didn't seem to end anytime soon. But I wanted to keep going, knowing that it could be right around the corner, just out of my sight. And then there it was, or so I thought. The top, stunning views well worth it, the last torii gates (of about a 100) and a small shrine (Kinko Inari Shrine)!!
I rested for a bit and drank the last bit of water I had on me. I then saw another couple of 'improvised' steps going up and I had to...and so I went up a bit further, reaching the actual top of the mountain! But there was nothing else to see there and so I went one level down again, about 400meters I later learned. And then the rest of the steps. Once down, I did not go through the shrine and saw a sign/map, the actual beginning of the trail. And there was a bell, a huge bell on it. I wondered if that was what used to be in that big empty hole I saw up there. Anyways, I couldn't walk any further and it was a 35min walk back so I decided to take the bus back! At the station, while I was waiting for the bus, I looked up the mountain across the street..there it was...the giant silver bell to the right of where I had been standing...fail!
Another thing I noticed was that there are no or very few trashcans and also no trash on the streets. And so I usually disposed of anything I had in the restrooms, that always had trashcans. Or back at the hostel.
The following day I didn't want to plan and so I decided to do a daytrip with a tourbus. It was just me and 3 others (a woman with two children, Chinese or Taiwanese I think). We started at Takehara also known as Little Kyoto as I don't quite understand why. It was super quiet and empty...almost a ghost town. We did do a bamboo workshop together, which was super fun, and the rest was free time. I walked up to another shrine and again, beautiful views!! I then walked around for a bit and went in a museum and a few residences (ticket were included with the tour) but it wasn't anything special. I saw a supermarket on the paper map I used to navigate and so I decided to go there and get a few snacks and fruit...oh and an icecream!!
Our other stop was Okunishima island, also known as rabbit island!!! It's an island with over 1000 rabbits. We had free time there as well. I started walking and there were so many rabbits, everywhere!! We were gifted a bag of rabbit food to feed them. It was all super cute. I of course decided to walk up again haha, to the lighthouse this time, but I couldn't go in. I then followed the trail going up, a nice nature walk with again great views of other islands. Rabbits kept coming out of nowhere and it was almost a bit eery at times since it was just me..could have been a great horror story! In the end I ended up also having to go around the other half of the island, almost no people and old powerplants, ruins and a poisonous gas factory, which was also eery but that could have been because I was reading a book about Auschwitz at the time (and on the bus there). Luckily I soon saw a bunch more rabbits that I fed the last bit if food to.
As we waited for the ferry to come, I was talking to the guide and it was so windy and cold. I told her I was going to Sapporo next and she told me there was a lot of snow, keeping her hand up to her waist...yikes!!
The rest of the evening and most of the day after, I had lots of tea, did my sudokus and watched online shows :).
I went to Miyajima on my final day, knowing that the torii gate on the water (one of the main things to see) was under construction and the rest was more of the same, but since it was sunny and I would soon go to snow..I decided I wanted to he outside!! Went to the port on a cablecar for about an hour and then a ferry to get to the island. It was a nice day out, lots of deers walking around or chilling in the sun and there was also a traditional wedding!
Well, off I go again, up north!! And this time, I don't have to walk up any steps!
Cheers,
T.
1 comment:
Mooie reis Talitha , veel plezier
Grts Ferdie
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