Cycle Kyoto Bike Tour

An early start today to get into the centre of Kyoto for our full day Cycle Tour with 'Cycle Kyoto'. Juan was our 66 year old Guide. He is an American who has lived in Japan for 26 years. He married his Japanese wife 8 years ago. The only other cyclist was Christine, a NZ born woman who has lived in the USA since the late 1980's. We missed Sue & Duncan not being with us today, knowing they would have loved this tour.
The bikes were relatively new, however, I (Kerrie) had to get used to riding a bike with a high bar, which meant cocking my leg over the bar! Never did quite get the hang of that, but no accidents, so all was good!
We rode 30 km all around Kyoto, visiting shrines and temples and weaving around the back streets of Kyoto. We enjoyed lunch at a sushi & noodle restaurant. We had to either grab food from the sushi train or order from our phone menu. We are learning all sorts of new tricks in Japan! The food was delicious, but it was a PH in Japan today so the place was packed with families (and noisy!)
So let us bore you with some Shrines & Temples information! There are 2400 Shrines & Temples in Kyoto (and we thought 900 cathedrals in Rome was impressive!)
Kyoto was the centre of culture in Japan when it was founded 1000 years ago. Kyoto lost it's status as the Capital of Japan in 1869 to Tokyo.
The first place we visited was the Fushimi Inardi Shinto Shrine. Inardi is the God of Agriculture - a very important God, especially when rice was the currency. This is the most visited place in Japan. In January this year 3 million people came to the Shrine to donate money and pray for their prosperity. We are amazed at how readily Japanese part with their money at Temples and Shrines!
We then visited the Yofuku 13th century Zen Monestry, Imperial Palace Gardens, the Golden Pavilion (World Heritage Site), Kitano Tenmangu Shintu Shrine and finally the Nishi Hongangi Buddhist Temple. This Temple is 7 stories high and is made of cypress and cedar only - no nails or metal.
We returned to the hotel and called into a Convenience Store next to the hotel for some wine and nibbles for dinner. Another very enjoyable day but we won't be upset if we don't see another Shrine or Temple this trip!Baca lagi