Kyoto - Southern Higashiyama

After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed out to explore. A taxi dropped us off to walk up the Gojo-zaka road to the Kiyomizu-dera Temple. Along the way we saw tons of Japanese tourists tricked out in kimono with little umbrellas and wooden-soled slippers (the men as well.) They all clack-clack their way around the hilly streets taking tiny steps because the outfits are restrictive and the slippers have no grip. But I was so grateful they were willing to suffer for fashion, because they all looked great, the kimono are stunning!

The temple is touristy and being renovated, but it's still incredibly beautiful and impressive. We walked through the Tainai-Meguri, which is a little pitch black walkway under one of the buildings in the temple - you follow the rope along the wall until you get to the only illuminated thing there, a large stone with Kanji carved in it. One touch of the stone gives you one wish.

After that we headed down Matsubara-dori street to Sannen-zaka hill to the Ninnen-zaka area, where we had a late lunch at a little out of the way place.

After lunch we went to the Maruyama-koen Park and on in to the Chion-in Temple. We finished up at the Shoren-in Temple and its beautiful gardens before walking back to the hotel to clean up and rest.Read more