We arrived in Kyoto during ‘Silver Week” a holiday season in Japan, not the smartest move and indeed it proved difficult to book accommodation. We looked at the usual websites when we were still in KL but to our amazement, 99% of hotels were already booked out. Shit! we thought. After spending a few hours searching and getting nowhere, Wend managed to find a house rental in the northern part of the city, about a 40 minute walk into town or a 10 minute tube ride. We emailed the people who responded that yes we could stay for as long as we wanted, which ended up being eight nights. The price was near enough the same as business hotels but we had use of a kitchenette, sofa and separate sleeping area, perfect!
Kyoto is going to be busy any time of year as it receives something like 50 million tourists a year so it didn't really matter that we were here during holiday period or not.
We were very excited about having the kitchenette so we bought ourselves some basic provisions to cook with, the first time in nearly a year! Nothing too exciting but it was nice to have some pasta dishes for a change rather than rice and also be able to cook some eggs for breakfast.
It’s a compact city and much easier to get around than Tokyo as you can visit a bunch of the main sites by walking which is what we prefer to do.
There are ‘just a few’ shrines and temples in Kyoto, something in the region of 200! We had to see a few of course, I’m sorry, this does mean more Temple photos, but these are different I promise!
We spent our first couple of days walking around Kyoto and taking in all the main sites.
Our first day, we walked into the centre and made our way over to Gion, which is the historic centre in many ways with old buildings, narrow alleyways, shrines and Geishas. It was a very busy day and we felt like sheep at times but it was also part of the fun. We did spot many ‘wannabe’ Geishas. It’s difficult to tell the difference sometimes as tourists can get dressed up in traditional outfits for the day for a fee. We saw plenty of girls who had dressed up as Maiko. An official Maiko is a trainee Geisha in Kyoto only. In fact in Kyoto, Geishas actually call themselves a Geiko. We’re pretty certain we spotted just the two real Geikos during our stroll in Gion as we saw two in a photo-shoot but who knows as they normally come out in the early evening and we were there mid afternoon. It wasn’t just the ladies that dressed up, some men walked around in Yukatas too although not as a group of men, usually in couples with their wives or girlfriends.
From Gion, we walked up towards a couple of shrines high up on a hill stopping at some of the souvenir shops to see what they had on offer, one had much Studio Ghibli items on sale which did tempt us. We didn’t manage to go the museum in Tokyo as you have to pre-book well in advance (which we didn’t know) so we made-do with taking some photos in the souvenir shop here in Kyoto. Once up the hill, there were fine views over Kyoto before making our way northwards via another shrine with a big open space in front of it where some local dance troops were performing a mix of classical and contemporary routines, to get to the Philosophers Walk (so named after a philosophy professor who liked to take his daily constitutional), a meandering 1.5km path in a peaceful location, an ideal spot for, well, philosophising of course or just reflecting. It was a quiet arty area, people selling crafts and others painting watercolours. We didn’t see it quite at its best however, it’s meant to be a feast for the eyes during cherry blossom season and the pictures we took didn’t do it justice either. By the time we had got home after buying some rosé (first time since Vietnam back in Dalat that we had bought wine), we’d walked 10 miles.
On our second full day, we repeated the feat of the first by walking 10 miles again, this time to the west of the city towards the must see shrines and temples.
The walk wasn’t quite as impressive as the previous day however, still clean and tidy of course, this is Japan after all and we weren’t disappointed by the sites we ventured to. The Golden Temple Kinkaku-Ji, is a beautiful sight in a lovely location, even busy with lots of people we manage to get some good shots and enjoy some of the serenity there before walking a little further on to Ryoan-Ji temple with it’s famed Zen rock garden that nobody knows exactly what is supposed to represent. There are 15 stones set out in a very well manicured gravel pit although you can’t see all 15 at any time, only 14 are visible due to their positioning. I joked to Wendy that if she found enlightenment she would see all 15 stones. Reading some info about the place a little later on, that is of course exactly what should happen. Oops, there I go, disrespecting Buddha, naughty boy!
The next few days we slowed down somewhat and didn’t do quite so much walking or see as much as we could in one day although we did keep ourselves busy.
We visited the Arashiyama district and walked through the popular Bamboo walk, quite a different thing than visiting temples and a welcome change.
The area is meant to be very popular with Japanese tourists and so it proved. The Bamboo walk took us into a little park area which then went to the river where there were hundreds of people in boats rowing up and down the river, with the beautiful mountains behind and little coffee shops it reminded us a bit of Symmonds Yat but without the pub! It was a gorgeous sunny day and everyone was having a great time. We left them to it and headed back home to enjoy our little pad.
The day after we went to see Nijo Castle, which wasn’t really a castle more like a vast Japanese style house, it was a bit empty inside and no photos allowed either sadly. It wasn’t our favourite for sure but was interesting to see how rooms were made up during the Tokugawa Shogunate era and who was allowed in which depending on rank. We then enjoyed Sushi at Musashi-Sushi in what is apparently where the rotating conveyer belt system was first introduced. Conveyor belt or not, it was delicious and cheap. Sadly there was horse meat on the belt which will not best please my mum, we didn’t eat any I promise! After filling our stomachs, we walked home via the Imperial Palace Park which was disappointing as parks go. Not so much a park but baseball pitches and big gravel boulevards with pine trees and not that much green space to sit in. We didn’t visit the Imperial Palace, we’d heard mixed reviews and in any case, we wanted to get back to the river side outside our place and enjoy the sun and scenery as it really was a beautiful spot.
We had originally planned a side trip to Himeji the next day but when we woke up it was raining and would do so all day according to reports so we stayed in all day that day and re-scheduled for a couple of days later.
After enjoying the house for a day, we were keen to get out again and the next day was clearer and sunnier again so off we went to Nara (Japan’s first capital city, a 45 minutes train journey south) in the morning to visit yet another temple, the Todai-Ji, but this one an absolute must as it houses a magnificent Buddha and the building (although only two-thirds of the original size) is reputedly the biggest wooden building in the world. Impressive it was and much fun is added to the surrounding area by the deer that roam freely in the park, they are so tame it’s ridiculous, always searching for food handouts, hence their ‘tameness’ of course, it’s very easy to pet them or put Ludwig on their backs ;-) The deers were said to be messengers of God during the pre-buddhists times. Some ramen for lunch and then we headed back to just south of Kyoto to visit another shrine but again one with a twist. Fushimi-Inari Taisha is very different to any we have ever seen. At the bottom of the mount/hill is the shrine but going all the way up the hill, around 4km of meandering paths, is a series of Torii gates that makes an impressive sight and great for photos. There are thousands of these red/orange gates, mostly made from wood in what must have taken an age to build. Once at the top, we once again enjoyed great views over Kyoto. We didn’t think there were going to be so many gates and certainly not for such a long distance, a magical place indeed.
Our last day in Kyoto would actually be spent away from it for the most part. The weather was great and so, as we had originally planned a few days before, we decided to make our way to Himeji, home to the best castle in Japan. It was a short 1hr journey on the Shinkhansen early in the morning as we wanted to be there for opening time as we heard it gets busy. Himeji Castle has been covered up for 6 years or so whilst it was being restored and had only re-opened fully earlier on in the year so we were lucky to see it all shiny and white. This was a castle we remember seeing on the television years ago when Dan Cruickshank did his series “Around the world in eighty treasures” (a list we wouldn’t mind completing ourselves and I think we have done a few of them now) and remember thinking back then that we would love to see it one day. Well here we were and excited too! We were glad we planned to get here early as there were already a few people about at 9.15 and by the time we had left the castle keep around midday there was an hour wait to get in! There isn’t much inside the castle itself in truth but the wooden beams were huge and impressive. The outside really is the best part, not only can you see the castle in it’s full glory but you can also see all the defence systems that were built in. This was a castle not made for breaching! We loved it and if there were maybe a few less people around it would have been even better but then again, we do like to have places to ourselves.
So after a few hours we made our way back to Kyoto to enjoy the last few hours at our ‘home from home’.
Kyoto and surrounds ticked off the list, we made our way west to experience a quite different part of Japan’s history, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Kyoto
Nara
Fushimi-Inari Taisha
Himeji
Kyoto is going to be busy any time of year as it receives something like 50 million tourists a year so it didn't really matter that we were here during holiday period or not.
We were very excited about having the kitchenette so we bought ourselves some basic provisions to cook with, the first time in nearly a year! Nothing too exciting but it was nice to have some pasta dishes for a change rather than rice and also be able to cook some eggs for breakfast.
It’s a compact city and much easier to get around than Tokyo as you can visit a bunch of the main sites by walking which is what we prefer to do.
There are ‘just a few’ shrines and temples in Kyoto, something in the region of 200! We had to see a few of course, I’m sorry, this does mean more Temple photos, but these are different I promise!
We spent our first couple of days walking around Kyoto and taking in all the main sites.
Our first day, we walked into the centre and made our way over to Gion, which is the historic centre in many ways with old buildings, narrow alleyways, shrines and Geishas. It was a very busy day and we felt like sheep at times but it was also part of the fun. We did spot many ‘wannabe’ Geishas. It’s difficult to tell the difference sometimes as tourists can get dressed up in traditional outfits for the day for a fee. We saw plenty of girls who had dressed up as Maiko. An official Maiko is a trainee Geisha in Kyoto only. In fact in Kyoto, Geishas actually call themselves a Geiko. We’re pretty certain we spotted just the two real Geikos during our stroll in Gion as we saw two in a photo-shoot but who knows as they normally come out in the early evening and we were there mid afternoon. It wasn’t just the ladies that dressed up, some men walked around in Yukatas too although not as a group of men, usually in couples with their wives or girlfriends.
From Gion, we walked up towards a couple of shrines high up on a hill stopping at some of the souvenir shops to see what they had on offer, one had much Studio Ghibli items on sale which did tempt us. We didn’t manage to go the museum in Tokyo as you have to pre-book well in advance (which we didn’t know) so we made-do with taking some photos in the souvenir shop here in Kyoto. Once up the hill, there were fine views over Kyoto before making our way northwards via another shrine with a big open space in front of it where some local dance troops were performing a mix of classical and contemporary routines, to get to the Philosophers Walk (so named after a philosophy professor who liked to take his daily constitutional), a meandering 1.5km path in a peaceful location, an ideal spot for, well, philosophising of course or just reflecting. It was a quiet arty area, people selling crafts and others painting watercolours. We didn’t see it quite at its best however, it’s meant to be a feast for the eyes during cherry blossom season and the pictures we took didn’t do it justice either. By the time we had got home after buying some rosé (first time since Vietnam back in Dalat that we had bought wine), we’d walked 10 miles.
On our second full day, we repeated the feat of the first by walking 10 miles again, this time to the west of the city towards the must see shrines and temples.
The walk wasn’t quite as impressive as the previous day however, still clean and tidy of course, this is Japan after all and we weren’t disappointed by the sites we ventured to. The Golden Temple Kinkaku-Ji, is a beautiful sight in a lovely location, even busy with lots of people we manage to get some good shots and enjoy some of the serenity there before walking a little further on to Ryoan-Ji temple with it’s famed Zen rock garden that nobody knows exactly what is supposed to represent. There are 15 stones set out in a very well manicured gravel pit although you can’t see all 15 at any time, only 14 are visible due to their positioning. I joked to Wendy that if she found enlightenment she would see all 15 stones. Reading some info about the place a little later on, that is of course exactly what should happen. Oops, there I go, disrespecting Buddha, naughty boy!
The next few days we slowed down somewhat and didn’t do quite so much walking or see as much as we could in one day although we did keep ourselves busy.
We visited the Arashiyama district and walked through the popular Bamboo walk, quite a different thing than visiting temples and a welcome change.
The area is meant to be very popular with Japanese tourists and so it proved. The Bamboo walk took us into a little park area which then went to the river where there were hundreds of people in boats rowing up and down the river, with the beautiful mountains behind and little coffee shops it reminded us a bit of Symmonds Yat but without the pub! It was a gorgeous sunny day and everyone was having a great time. We left them to it and headed back home to enjoy our little pad.
The day after we went to see Nijo Castle, which wasn’t really a castle more like a vast Japanese style house, it was a bit empty inside and no photos allowed either sadly. It wasn’t our favourite for sure but was interesting to see how rooms were made up during the Tokugawa Shogunate era and who was allowed in which depending on rank. We then enjoyed Sushi at Musashi-Sushi in what is apparently where the rotating conveyer belt system was first introduced. Conveyor belt or not, it was delicious and cheap. Sadly there was horse meat on the belt which will not best please my mum, we didn’t eat any I promise! After filling our stomachs, we walked home via the Imperial Palace Park which was disappointing as parks go. Not so much a park but baseball pitches and big gravel boulevards with pine trees and not that much green space to sit in. We didn’t visit the Imperial Palace, we’d heard mixed reviews and in any case, we wanted to get back to the river side outside our place and enjoy the sun and scenery as it really was a beautiful spot.
We had originally planned a side trip to Himeji the next day but when we woke up it was raining and would do so all day according to reports so we stayed in all day that day and re-scheduled for a couple of days later.
After enjoying the house for a day, we were keen to get out again and the next day was clearer and sunnier again so off we went to Nara (Japan’s first capital city, a 45 minutes train journey south) in the morning to visit yet another temple, the Todai-Ji, but this one an absolute must as it houses a magnificent Buddha and the building (although only two-thirds of the original size) is reputedly the biggest wooden building in the world. Impressive it was and much fun is added to the surrounding area by the deer that roam freely in the park, they are so tame it’s ridiculous, always searching for food handouts, hence their ‘tameness’ of course, it’s very easy to pet them or put Ludwig on their backs ;-) The deers were said to be messengers of God during the pre-buddhists times. Some ramen for lunch and then we headed back to just south of Kyoto to visit another shrine but again one with a twist. Fushimi-Inari Taisha is very different to any we have ever seen. At the bottom of the mount/hill is the shrine but going all the way up the hill, around 4km of meandering paths, is a series of Torii gates that makes an impressive sight and great for photos. There are thousands of these red/orange gates, mostly made from wood in what must have taken an age to build. Once at the top, we once again enjoyed great views over Kyoto. We didn’t think there were going to be so many gates and certainly not for such a long distance, a magical place indeed.
Our last day in Kyoto would actually be spent away from it for the most part. The weather was great and so, as we had originally planned a few days before, we decided to make our way to Himeji, home to the best castle in Japan. It was a short 1hr journey on the Shinkhansen early in the morning as we wanted to be there for opening time as we heard it gets busy. Himeji Castle has been covered up for 6 years or so whilst it was being restored and had only re-opened fully earlier on in the year so we were lucky to see it all shiny and white. This was a castle we remember seeing on the television years ago when Dan Cruickshank did his series “Around the world in eighty treasures” (a list we wouldn’t mind completing ourselves and I think we have done a few of them now) and remember thinking back then that we would love to see it one day. Well here we were and excited too! We were glad we planned to get here early as there were already a few people about at 9.15 and by the time we had left the castle keep around midday there was an hour wait to get in! There isn’t much inside the castle itself in truth but the wooden beams were huge and impressive. The outside really is the best part, not only can you see the castle in it’s full glory but you can also see all the defence systems that were built in. This was a castle not made for breaching! We loved it and if there were maybe a few less people around it would have been even better but then again, we do like to have places to ourselves.
So after a few hours we made our way back to Kyoto to enjoy the last few hours at our ‘home from home’.
Kyoto and surrounds ticked off the list, we made our way west to experience a quite different part of Japan’s history, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Kyoto
 |
| Outside our 'home from home' |
 |
| Studio Ghibli shop - TOTORO!! |
Nara
Fushimi-Inari Taisha
Himeji
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| Ludwig and friends back at 'home' in Kyoto. |
