November 15, 2025
Day 74 — Etajima to Hiroshima
Marilee here.
This was another day of taking it easy. Not quite a day off — we were still on the move, but a good portion of the mileage was accomplished by sitting on a ferry. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
The beginning was an excellent Japanese breakfast, with sea bream that we grilled at the table on pink Himalayan salt tablets, along with a variety of pickled vegetables, rice, miso, marinated tofu, etc. And good strong coffees!
Then we wandered back to our room, where we had a few family FaceTime calls, checking in with kids and parents. And after that, well we could have got busy packing up, but it was a lovely sunny day and there was that big sandy beach outside … we decided there was just enough time for another quick swim before checking out.
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The staff at the hotel had been really concerned with making sure we had a secure place to leave our bikes overnight; the previous day when we checked in they made space in a locked storage room for the bikes. We weren’t too worried about the risk of theft on this tiny island, but their concern was quite touching, so we went along with it. Which meant that before we could leave we had to search out a staff member to release the bikes. He stuck around while we loaded up the bags so that he could wave goodbye to us as we pedalled away — a nice farewell in the bright sunshine to cap off this unexpected mini beach vacation.
We had less than ten kilometres to ride to reach the ferry terminal, and it was fun rolling hills most of the way, including a swooping downhill past an oceanfront baseball diamond where a team of little leaguers were out for their Saturday morning practice — if any of them were heavy hitters they’d be losing balls in the water for sure.
The ferry terminal, when we arrived, turned out to be slightly larger than the one in Munakata— but not by much. However, it had a cafe offering smoothies, which we took advantage of as soon as we’d navigated the automated ticket machine (no one to help us this time, but the lady in Munakata had given such excellent guidance the other day we felt confident in managing it unaided).
We had 90 minutes to wait, and before long our stomachs were growling, so back to the cafe we went, where they were offering a daily lunchtime bento box special. We ordered two, only to discover that today’s bento was a fried hamburger patty, a fried egg, and a slice of melted cheese over rice. Well, it was filling!
Our third ferry ride in as many days was another short, sunny, scenic journey (hint: there’s a much longer ferry ride coming up in a few days). Again, it was almost empty, with only about 4 cars as well as four other cyclists—Japanese riders returning from a morning ride on the island—and a few foot passengers. Coming from BC, where the news is always full of dire warnings about the financial health of the provincial ferry corporation, we’ve been marveling at Japan’s ability to keep these very small, very lightly used ferry routes going, with such frequent sailings.
As we got closer, Hiroshima spread across the horizon, filled with towers and highrises all glowing white in the sun.
Another thing that continues to impress us is the speed and efficiency of the ferry loading and unloading process. There’s no time wasted—on this occasion we were riding off the loading ramp while the ferry was still moving!
The ferry terminal in Hiroshima is almost downtown, so after a brief tour of the industrial port side streets we found ourselves on a riverside cycle path taking us directly into the city.
We were both pleasantly surprised by Hiroshima, and by its downtown business and tourist core in particular. The city has a much more western feel than other cities we’ve visited on this trip (although the only other city of a comparable size that we’ve been to so far is Sapporo), with wide avenues lined with shade trees, spacious open plazas, and a bustling riverside promenade.
After locating our hotel and stashing the bikes away in a nearby overnight bike parking lot, we headed back out to make the most of the sunny afternoon and see the sights. Which of course are not all that sunny in nature. The riverside promenade, thronged with foreign tourists, is dotted with historical monuments and artifacts documenting the devastation of the city by the bombing. It culminates in the Atomic Bomb Dome, which is very dramatic and affecting.
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After some time contemplating, we carried on along the riverside. Beyond the peace park the promenade widened into a broad plaza in front of the local Children’s Museum filled with families, a food truck festival ramping up for the evening, and a sports arena where some event had just ended. It was a bustling, happy scene — and seemed to be almost entirely filled with locals — the foreign tourists had somehow vanished.
We’ve spent a good amount of time on this trip wishing that there were more patios and outdoor restaurant options in Japan, so although we were still full of hamburger bento, we felt like we should take advantage of the food truck festival to sit down and have a snack in the warm fall sunshine. So we got some fries. However full Tom is, he always has room for fries.
We wound our way through the streets back to our hotel, thinking about the purposeful contrast of putting a children’s museum next to the bomb dome memorial, and human resiliency, and wondering why the french fry vendor felt it was a good idea to put spray cheese on fries. And then we went out for dinner.
Today's ride: 14 km (9 miles)
Total: 3,779 km (2,347 miles)
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