Satellite
  • Day 4

    Hello Kyoto!

    August 12, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We were up early, watered and fed, and at Tokyo Station to catch the 8.30am Shinkansen to Kyoto.

    I know I keep talking about these things but they really are fantastic. No travelling out to an airport, going through security etc etc etc just get to the centre of town, get on, and go! Same when you arrive you aren't at some airport somewhere out whoop-whoop you are (in our case) 3 subway stops from your hotel.

    The Kyoto subway is a bit smaller than Tokyo's so it is a little easier to get around but there are still multiple subway lines so you need to know which ticket to use - Suica or JR. They have a tourist information desk there so we were able to sort out how to get to our hotel and found it very easily (taxis are still for wimps!).

    We arrived just before lunch and booked into the Izutsu Hotel. Not much to look at from the outside but it is very central and the room was actually quite large. Still has a toilet with a remote control though!

    We went for a wander and found a cheap and cheerful udon restaurant close by. Udon is Japanese noodles kinda like really thick spaghetti, and tastes absolutely sensational. We then wandered up Teramachi Street and spent some cash. This is where all the really nice arts and crafts shops are so we took our time.

    Kyoto is famous for its temples and shrines and there are loads of them. We headed across the river to the Heian-jingu Shrine which was fantastic. It has a huge courtyard area, some very impressive buildings, and a huge garden around the back. It actually featured in a write up in the Sydney Morning Herald's Travel section a few months ago. The centre piece of the garden in the lake with the covered bridge but all of it was very impressive, see the photos below.

    We spent a while walking around the gardens and stopped for a cool drink at the tea house in the middle of the gardens.

    I don't want to jinx us but the weather has been brilliant if a little too warm. It has been in the mid 30s everyday.

    We then headed out of the shrine and south under the massive gate before going back into the main city looking for somewhere to eat. Like I said it is a bit of a lottery as to what type of restaurant you walk into but tonight we really did well. The food photos looked pretty good, it was full of locals which is always a good sign, and the bloke serving was very helpful. We took a couple of stools at the counter and worked out what we wanted. They did lots of food on a stick - beef, pork, chicken, capsicum - but also some offal like liver, tongue, heart. We kept it pretty simple and stuck to what we knew. As the sticks came out they were put on the steel section in front of us (see photos). All the time the cooks and waiters were shouting and calling out, some of the time it was a customer's order, or greetings to new customers, the rest of the time I have no idea they were just yelling. I said to T we should call out Aussie Aussie Aussie and see what happens. Anyway it was great fun and the food was brilliant.

    After dinner and a beer we stumbled across a lane that runs parallel to the river that was full of people and restaurants. Really amazing and it went for a couple of hundred metres.

    Kyoto is a lot more chilled than Tokyo. It is quite common here for people (men and women) to get around in the traditional kimonos right down to the wooden sandals. It is also better set up to deal with tourists as there were a lot of restaurants with english menus available and it just had a more friendly vibe. Interestingly there seem to be a lot of French style bakeries around, not sure where that influence came from.

    Really lucky the Olympics are on at the moment, can watch something interesting on TV that doesn't need commentary!

    Tomorrow is going to be spent exploring Kyoto.
    Read more