Exploring Kyoto

A relaxed morning. Liv had a sleep in, Pete, Ted and I checked out the hotel breakfast. A bit overpriced and not as interesting so we won’t go again, I did have a lovely omelette though. We walked to Gion, part of old Kyoto where we walked one of the oldest streets in Kyoto and through gardens and a shrine. We wandered back towards the hotel, I left Pete and Ted to find coffee while I went back to the Nishiki markets. Liv had a wander to two cafes and had her best ever matcha. We met back in the lobby for a 12.15pm taxi booked to take us to the meeting point for our Kyoto Bike tour, starting at 1pm. There was us and another guy, Christopher from Mexico. It was great to explore parts of Kyoto on bike, in quieter residential areas around Arashiyama. We first rode to the towering Bamboo Forest, which was quite spectacular. Next we rode to the Tenryu-jt Temple. This covered huge gardens, a pond and a number of temples where monks lived as well as views over Kyoto. We then we rode and parked our bikes and hiked about 160m (20mins) and met playful monkeys at the Arashiyama Monkey Park, which also had stunning views of Kyoto. The monkeys roamed free and you could feed them food within a hut. There were certain rules not to stare at them or get too close. Thankfully Ted adhered to the rules! We then cycled to another temple, again interesting stories and it had a sake museum as well. We rode alongside the river and again some peaceful quieter parts of Kyoto. We finished our tour and enjoyed some rice crackers and ordered an Uber. It was cold by the end. After a short break we walked to a recommended Mexican restaurant and it was tiny and busy. After much debate - we ended up going to an Indian restaurant, the irony of being in Japan known, and it was pretty good. Liv and Ted went back to the hotel and Pete and I wandered to a bar and ended back at the one we were at last night. A fun day! More pics from our guide to come.Read more