Kyoto

Kyoto is a city of temples (Buddhist) and shrines (Shinto). Along with Tokyo and Osaka it's on the "Golden Route" of must see sights in Japan. There's a lot of tourists but it's much more subdued than Tokyo.

We stayed at another business hotel with amazing breakfasts. After checking in we hit the ground running and saw the nearby Yasaka Shrine and the Chionin Temple, both of which are inside a large park. Renting kimonos isa popular thing for tourists to do here so we see lots of women from all over the world wearing kimonos. And surprisingly there are lots of young Japanese women that rent them for the day also. There's not one babydoll maid outfit in sight. That's a tokyo thing. Deanne passed on renting a kimono since they don't look comfortable for long distance walking.

We took a bus all the way across town to the famous bamboo forest. There was nothing serene about it with all the tourists and people renting rickshaws. We chose a random temple to visit and absolutely loved Jōjakkōji Temple. It had a great view from the top of the hill. On the way out we stopped by the popular Tenryu-ji temple but didn't like it as much. It's famous for their gardens but we were there before the leaf changing and after the flowers died.

Then it was back across town to walk on the lovely philosopher's path which is a trail that follows a small river. The Ōtoyo Shrine was right there, so why not?

Later, we walked through the Gion area which is famous for its tea houses and geishas. The thought of sitting through a 4-hour tea ceremony with my legs crossed on the floor is not appealing me in the least, so we skipped that. But we did manage to see a geisha walking home later at night. Taking pictures of them is taboo.

The Nishiki Market is a lively market street near our hotel that's full of restaurants, food vendors, and tourists. As you can imagine the food here is absolutely amazing.

That was all in one day! We've got three nights here but basically two and a half days so we're hitting it hard. After Osaka we're flying to the island of Kyushu where we hope to slow it down a bit.

We ate twice at a nearby soba noodle restaurant. They make the buckwheat noodles by hand after milling the buckwheat at the restaurant. They are gluten free so I can eat them and they're delicious.

On Friday we went to the Fushimi Inari Taiaha shrine. It's incredibly popular with the Instagram crowd because of its lovely orange toris, or gates. Afterwards we went to a sake museum for a tasting. That was perfect for a rainy day.

We were going to call it a day and remembered another temple that was well worth the visit. Sanjūsangendō Temple is the home of the Big Buddha and it's surrounded by a thousand smaller statues. Too bad it doesn't allow photographs

We could have easily spent another day or two here to do so this on a slower pace. But then again, after a few days, the temples and shrines begin to blur together.

Next up is Osaka which is just south of here. It's the third largest city, after Yokohama and it has a reputation for great food and friendly people.

More photos and videos are here.

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