Day 11 - Himeji to Hiroshima

After a quick breakfast and coffee at a local bakery, we caught another Shinkansen through to Hiroshima this morning. This time our hotel was a 2.5km walk from the station (because why catch a bus or tram when you can walk!). We dropped our packs and headed out to visit the local Hiroshima memorials that were all relatively close to where we are staying.

We started at the furthest point from the hotel and visited the Shukkei-en Garden. Then we after a pick-me-up coffee, we walked a short distance to visit Hiroshima Castle, which was destroyed by the atomic bomb and one section rebuilt, so is actually relatively new.

From there we came to the Children's Peace Monument and across the road to the Atomic Bomb Dome. Then we wandered through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, seeing the eternal flame and then reaching the museum that had a full history of the bombing. It was very moving and quite sad.

By the time we did all that and got through the museum (it alone took 2 hours) we were a bit weary, so we came back to the hotel to check in and shower before heading back out for dinner.

Hondori Street is the local hotspot for food and shopping, so we headed there to track down a place to try the Hiroshima version of okonomiyaki, a special dish from the area. We found a place on the second floor of a shopping area, and were pleasantly surprised by people and the food (we were however a bit concerned about the actual h&s aspects of the restaurant itself...). It was a great meal and a lot of fun to experience.

We are now back at the hotel ready for bed and planning tomorrow's journey to Miyajima Island...Read more