Torii gates, soba, and okonomiyaki

We were up at 6am to get started on our odyssey to Miyajima island. We had our typical konbini breakfast before getting on three subway trains and then a ferry. The journey took us over an hour, but as we approached the floating torii gates at Itsukushima Shrine, it seemed like our time had been well spent!

We planned our arrival for high tide so that the gate was submerged. You can obviously also go at low tide and almost walk out to the gate, but we wanted the full water effect. We got off the ferry and saw a few deer (it’s illegal to feed these ones, so there are no cute videos of bowing deer!) and wandered over to try and get some photos of the huge torii gates. We then visited the actual shrine, which is also perched above the water.

Next, we decided to walk to the aquarium as it was still early in the day and shops in Japan don’t open until 9 or 10. The aquarium was fantastic! We saw moray eels (we have been eating the smaller conger eel), finless porpoises, blowfish, rays, a ton of crazy fish species, an octopus, so many creepy beetles (like a rhinoceros beetle!), and also saw the penguins being fed. We liked that it featured a lot of local sea life!

After the aquarium, we walked back to the main shopping area in search of a few souvenirs - most importantly, a yakata for our niece (which we finally found!). It was so hot that we grabbed a quick beer at the island’s brewery and then headed back towards the ferry for our journey “home.”

Once we arrived back in Hiroshima, we went for soba noodles. The place we picked had a bit of a line, but moved quickly. There were no tourists in line either, so we felt that it must be a good local spot! We had the cold soba noodles and the duck broth (hot) soba noodles with tempura. Brad said the tempura shrimp was the best tempura shrimp he has ever had! The soba noodles were excellent and the meal did not disappoint!

We went back to the hotel to cool off and take a quick nap before setting out to see the art museum. There was a huge Miffy bunny exhibit on, but everything was in Japanese or Dutch, so we only got the gist of it. We also viewed their permanent collection which was just ok. We sat down for a matcha and a latte to decide what to do next.

Since we were in the area, we decided to just go for supper after we grabbed a few things at a kitchen store in the mall. The malls are so great here - they have everything! They are outdoor stores, but covered by a huge canopy so it’s sheltered but still open.

Hiroshima has their own style of okonomiyaki, which I wanted to try. We went to a floor in a high rise building where there were no less than five open restaurants serving okonomiyaki! Brad knew which one was best, so we got a seat at the counter of this super cute husband and wife team. She was a grill master! It was truly impressive to watch her cook so many okonomiyaki at once. Brad had the oyster one and I had a seafood one - both were delicious!

Bellies quite full, we walked back to our hotel. Tonight we need to pack up as we head back to Tokyo on the Shinkansen tomorrow for a few days to cap off our trip!Read more