Heading next day to Hiroshima, we decided to take a bit of a side trip to the small fishing port of Tomo-no-ura, just to experience a bit more of the Inland Sea and some more of the different aspects of Japan. We appreciated it more later on, as we didn`t have very good weather in Miya-jima.
The lighthouse at Tomo-no-ura
View over Tomo-no-ura and the Inland Sea
Hiroshima city was quite vibrant and pretty but the Peace Museum was rather gruesome and distressing. We really hope that atomic bombs are never used again (which I guess is the whole point of the exhibits). The Peace Park itself was very interesting and the A-Bomb dome is well worth seeing as a poignant reminder.
Looking through the Cenotaph to the Peace Flame and the A-Bomb Dome
The A-Bomb Dome at night
A-Bomb Dome and Aioi Bridge (the intended bomb target)
Next morning we headed out for the day to Miya-jima. Unfortunately the weather had packed in overnight even though the forcast had said it was going to be sunny! It was still a really great day out and we went up the ropeway to the top of Mt Misen and walked back down. Unfortunately the famous monkeys are in the forest eating this time of year so we didn't see them, but there were heaps of sika deer everywhere and we could still make out many of the island in the Inland Sea and see all the way back to Hiroshima. We stayed on the island for dinner and caught a late ferry back so we could see the famous red torii gate lit up at night. Miyajima was super packed with people despite the weather! Early the next morning we had a really nice stroll through the riverside gardens of Shukkei-en in Hiroshima. This is a "shrink scenery garden" - depicting landscapes in minature, and apparently modelled on a lake in China. We enjoyed this garden a lot and preferred it to the wide open more famous gardens. Shukkei-en was completely destroyed in the atomic bomb and re-opened 6 years later.
Ropeway up Mt Misen
Itsukushima shrine torii gate, Miya-jima
Shukkei-en
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