Itsukushima Island: Shrine Island

It's hard to believe that we live so close to such a special place, one that is home to sacred trees, deer and a famous UNESCO World Heritage Site: Itsukushima Shrine. Known for it's giant "floating" torii gate, the present standing Itsukushima Shrine dates back to the 16th century and is one of many national treasures found on the island. The island is actually known as Miyajima Island, which literally means Shrine Island.

Riding our bikes to the train station, Miyajima is an easy 35 minute train ride and a 10 minute ferry hop over. Zach and I knew there was a lot to see on the island, so for our first trip we just scratched the surface.

Bike parking at the Iwakuni train station is pretty impressive! It only takes us about 15 minutes to bike here.

Entrance to the ferry station!

Two ferries take people back and forth all day, this island is a popular place!

Approaching Miyajima and it's iconic torii gate.

The first thing I wanted to do was to grab some lunch before wandering around the island. I had heard of the "Cat Cafe" and the "Owl Cafe" and really wanted to see some owl's and eat lunch! We get there and realized the "cafe" term is just that... a term. No lunch. But there were still owls! Grabbing our ticket we walk up the stairs to a fake leaf and moss covered room with a narrow path that snakes through the "forest". The first owl we see, Zach legitimately thought it was fake because it was just out in the open, sitting on it's perch.

All types of pet and animal "cafes" are very popular all over Japan, but they are not all as nicely done as this one.

Next we started making our way around the big marketplace area in search of actual lunch. This day just so happened to be a holiday, so it was extremely busy. We just decided to grab food for the stands that lined the water front. Zach opted for some chewy squid (yuck!) and I was looking for anything non-seafood. Miyajima is known for its seafood, especially oysters, so this was not as easy feat. I also knew that they were famous for their maple shaped desserts. I found a stand that was selling what I thought was a savory version of these and ordered the cheese one. On my first bite, I realized that this was definitely not bread with cheese at all. I later found out that it was steamed fish paste... they really fooled me! Nothing is what it seems in Japan haha! After some searching we came across a steamed bao bun stand, so delicious!

Walking up to the floating torii gate, it was high tide! Perfect for photos! Since today was our first but definitely not our last time to the island, we decided to just explore. The line to visit the shrine was very long, and we hope to see it next time. There is also a hike up to the top of the mountain and many more little shrines hidden around the island. After our walk into the woods, we made it back to the torii gate at low tide, so everyone was walking on the sand getting close up photos with it. Can't wait to come back!