Arashiyama

Just one day after Osaka Castle, I decided to visit the next big touris attraction, Arashiyama in Kyoto. Kyoto is just 1 1/2 hours from Osaka by train, so not that far. The connection can be a bit confusing, but the trains go often, so it's not a big deal if you miss one. Arashiyama or 嵐山 is the "storm mountain" (山 is yama/san which means mountain, Fuijisan is 富士山). It's famous for the colours in autumn and also for the monkey park at the peak of the mountain. The climb can be a bit exhausting, especially if you were prepared for a city and not for a mountain, but luckily I'm still young. The view you have on Kyoto is great and there are actual monkeys running around freely. Of course you're not allowed to touch or to feed them, but there is a special room where you can feed them. The monkeys are still outside, it's the humans that are caged in to feed them, so to say.
The colours in autumn are awsome, the japanese maple is bright red and makes for a nice contrast with all the green and yellow leaves of other trees. Also I was finally able to find a Japanese camellia, which bright pink was visible from afar. The entry fee to the monkey park was a few hundred yen, so really nothing expensive.
Once you are back from the mountain, you can go right to the other big attraction of the area, which is a large bamboo groove. Just be prepared for large streams of tourists on the weekends. Bamboo is a few metres tall and the light inside a groove is hard to describe, since the plannts are side by side and don't have leafs in the lower areas. It's a bit like a green wall.Read more