This was the day that broke the camel's back - if you consider me a camel... We started it on Miyajima Island and ended in Kanazawa, 600 km away, on the shores of the Sea of Japan.
We woke up very early, had breakfast at the ryokan, and walked to the Miyajima Ropeway. The idea was to take the ropeway as soon as it opens at 9am, before the hordes of tourists arrive on the ferries. We left our backpacks at the ryokan (suitcases were already in a locker at the ferry terminal - we tried to send our luggage from the previous hotel directly to Kanazawa, but they couldn't do it) and walked to the lower station, then took the first gondola up. Miyajima Island early in the morning is peaceful and deserted (of people), so you have scores of deer to yourself.
Ropeway has these little green cabins on the first leg, we were in the 3rd one of those, and then there is a big glassed gondola riding over the primordial forests between the second and third station... unfortunately, they pack it full and no good photos came out of that ride.
The third station is at the elevation of 430 m. The views are breathtaking.
The plan was to explore everything at the top of the mountain and then descend on foot back to the ryokan, grab our backpacks, and take the ferry directly to Hiroshima Peace Park. We'll get back to that later. Meanwhile, here we are, exploring the shrines at the top of the mountain. As (could have been) expected, when you descend from the top of a mountain, it involves a lot of steps, of which some will lead down, but then some will also lead up...
From here, it was mostly down, but this is unfortunately the place where we realized that if we want to make it to the ferry in time, we need to hurry up. Which was a shame, because I would have loved to take my time walking through the primordial forest on the mountain, enjoying the views, and there is also a big shrine down at the bottom too...
... we didn't have time to go in, just took a few pictures from the outside. This is the sign at the very bottom of the trail - we just walked these 2.5 km down...
By then, I was pretty exhausted, so Alex left me by the shrine (which we explored yesterday) and ran to the ryokan and back (to get our backpacks). Well, maybe not ran exactly, but walked very fast... and that's what we did with backpacks - when he came back - to get to the ferry terminal. By that point, the pathways were teeming with crowds of day-trip tourists, as we hurried around them. We got our suitcases from the locker and made it to the ferry terminal with 10 minutes to spare.
We took the ferry directly to Hiroshima Peace Park (they run two-three times an hour, the ride is 45 min). Unfortunately, that meant walking around the Peace Park with suitcases...
From there, a streetcar and three trains (two Shinkansens and a connecting Thunderbird between them, all train tickets booked in advance) took us to Kanazawa. That day almost did me in. Walking 5 miles, about half of them with backpacks and suitcases and the other half on trails, with uneven stone steps going up and down (mostly down, but still)... hurrying to catch a ferry or make the train connection, no time for lunch - we barely grabbed 2 bento boxes at the station in Hiroshima... my knee still hurting after the Philosopher's Path fiasco... by the time we checked into our hotel in Kanazawa, I didn't even have the energy to take photos of the room, as I usually do. Just took a couple of the view from our window on the 22nd floor (this is the train station down below)...
... and then we went to dinner, which was great but I was too tired to eat.
We decided to try to take it easier from then on... Still, the views from top of the island were worth all the trouble! And walking through the forest... if we didn't have to hurry to catch the ferry... So I suggest, if you go there, to stay two nights on Miyajima Island and devote the full day to the ropeway, walking the trails, and getting friendly with the deer.
> Day 13
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