Day 86. We left the luxury of Dogo Onsen to make our way to Miyajima, a small island a few kilometres off Hiroshima. From the port of Matsuyama, we took the (very) fast boat to Hiroshima.
Fast boat from Shikoku to Honshu island
A streetcar, a train and another boat later, we arrived at Miyajima in the early evening and set out to explore it. Miyajima is considered one of the most beautiful spots in Japan and is the site of one of the classic so-called “Three Views of Japan”. Rising from the sea is the iconic floating Torii, a large Shinto gate built in the 12th century.
Bridge crossing a pretty stream at Miyajima
Ancient Torii rises from the sea off Miyajima
Peculiar to Miyajima are the tame deer that freely wander the roads and follow the tourists. One Bambi look-alike made some interesing sounds much like a squeeky toy. We have yet to confirm whether this is normal for baby deer.
We snack on conger eel buns, a local speciality
Bambi bites our buns
We also spotted a couple of strange looking racoons racing past us and down an alley but they were a little too quick for us to get a good picture of them.
Racoon's bottom