Miyajima in autumn

We often get asked, "What is your favourite place?". To which my standard reply is, there isn't just one, and there is no league table. How can you compare all the diverse places, cities, climates, wildlife, and environments? You can't.

That said, the islands of miyajima , and in particular Daishon Temple in autumn, are fantabulous. The crowds that visit each day show I'm not alone in thinking that.

Normally, big crowds are a sure turn-off for us, but Miyajima is wonderful all day, and the vast majority of visitors are day trippers, who are there between 10 am and 330 pm. Luckily for us, Bernard could book one of the very few island hotels months ago. The hotel in itself is a treat with high-end japanese comforts such as an onsen ( hot baths) and food. Both nights of our stay we have 10 courses of a wide variety of fish and rice with algae. There are some strange things that none of us eat, but mostly it's very good, even if we are often not sure what it is.

The highlight of the stay for most of us is the walk to the Daishon. This is an important Budhist temple, so important that a visit here gets you nirvana credits that elsewhere would require visiting temples all across Japan.

Our trip here was topped off with a boat ride of 2.5 hours around the island. On a sunny day , as we had, a wonderful outing. It's interesting how the Japanese cities and towns are pretty ugly urban srawls, with apparently very few planning or style standards, but the mountains and islands are completely, as in 100%, free of construction.Read more