Hiroshima

Hiroshima is a pretty famous place both in Japan and worldwide thanks to its devastating history as one of the two places ever to be hit with an atomic bomb. Whilst it is infamous for its past tragedy its other aspects are often overlooked and so not everyone is aware of the beauty that lies within this city! This year for my birthday I decided to explore that beauty! So back in April (yes this post is super super late) I was able to take a weekend trip to the city with my friend and we managed to get up to several exciting things! So here's a brief look into our trip.

First day

My friend and I travelled to Hiroshima from Osaka using the night bus Friday night and so arrived super early Saturday morning ready to start our exploring! After grabbing the essential coffee and some baked goods we headed to our first destination, Bunny Island. 

If you haven't heard of Bunny  Island (formally known as Okunoshima) then in short it is exactly as it sounds, an island full off cute little bunnies and not much else lol (so if you're not a fan of rabbits don't go here). The island's previous purpose was to produce poison gas during the war (creepy right) and so whilst there are many bunnies there are also many abandoned, kind of scary, buildings around and some museums explaining the islands war history.

So back to our trip, after stocking up on bunny food we had to take a short ferry ride from the mainland to the island. After we arrived we were immediately surrounded by cute but hungry bunnies. There were enough bunnies that everyone had a chance to feed at lease one and as there were so many we honestly could have just stayed in that spot all day! We did however wander around the island and found plenty more bunnies. They were all so tame and didn't hesitate to scramble all over you in hopes for a little cabbage or carrot! At one point I had several literally on my lap!

On the island we didn't only feed bunnies though, after wandering a little we found a mini hiking trail and decided to go to the top. Once we reached the top we were me with spectacular views of the ocean and surrounding islands. And of course we were met by even more bunnies! 

After this we decided to grab something to eat and head back to the mainland. Later that day we tried the famous Hiroshima Okonomiyaki and then got some sleep ready for the next day!

Second day 

On the morning of the second day we first visited the peace memorial site of Hiroshima, this was pretty saddening but also eye opening. The area was silent and tranquil and we decided not to take any pictures here as it didn't seem appropriate/took away from the meaning of the site. 

After this we travelled to the famous Miyajima Island. The island is known for its "floating" shrine  (a shrine that is in the sea and at certain times of the day appears to be floating)! Luckily for us the weather was amazing and once on the island it felt like we were really on vacation. The island was pretty busy but even so we were able to see the awesome views of the shrine.

The island also has many wild deer who are constantly roaming around. Unlike the deer of Nara, however, these deer were not so friendly and quite aggressive! I saw several deer trying to steal food from people or getting to close to comfort to those who didn't want to be near them lol! Besides the deer and shrine the island also has some nice gardens which we explored and you can even hike up the small mountain on the island. As we had to catch the bus in the early evening we left the island that afternoon and headed back to the mainland. 

So that was our trip to Hiroshima, we explored lots, had a great time and I can't wait to go back someday!