Day 5

I had time before breakfast to have a stroll to the Tori Gate, where the tide was out and you could walk around and under the gate. I found Richard and George already taking pictures. It was strange to see the gate without water underneath it, but it made for some great pictures.

After a leisurely Japanese breakfast – fish, salad, rolls and juice we set off with George to explore Miyajima Island. The Japanese come here in their hundreds as it is considered one of the top three sites in Japan. Therefore the town caters for visitors with shops and food stalls serving a myriad of things to snack on. George had grilled oyster and a fish filled dumpling/cake, while I tried an octopus, squid and spring onion cake on a stick! This was given to me by a friendly American who noticed me eying up the snack that he had just purchased from a vendor.

There are many deer on the island that wander freely about the place. Many stall holders feed them, as do some tourists, but they will help themselves when required! They are very friendly and are happy to be stroked and have their photograph taken!

We visited the Itsukushima shrine, which fronts onto the sea and has a tidal 'moat' around it. It was a typical wooden structure, painted red and housed a Shinto shrine inside. Again a priest was leading some worshipers in some form of ritual which was great to watch. Adjacent to it is a pagoda and large wooden hall – dating back hundreds of years used for important gatherings.

By now it was lunch time, but we were so full of snacks that we just returned to our ryokan for some sake and nibbles. We then joined the rest of the group to go by cable car up to Mount Misen for some great views of the surrounding islands.

It was one of our groups birthday – Olga – so Liam had arranged some sake and some local biscuits to celebrate. It was a great way to spend a few hours and watch afternoon turn to evening and the light start to fade over the islands.

George and I just had time to return to the Tori gate for some last shots before it got dark.

Clare and I then made for the onsen in the ryokan for a good scrub before changing into our yutaka for dinner. Again we were treated to an excellent Japanese style 10 course dinner. This included turban shell-a sort of sea snail – crab mouse, scallops with sea urchin, conger eel sushi, sea bass, beef, grilled umberjack (a meaty white fish), conger eel tofu, shrimp tempura with almond, rice with Hiroshima-Na and melon to finish. It was truly a wonderful meal and something that a top restaurant in any country would be proud of.