Panoramic Kyoto tour

Panoramic tour of Kyoto - so most of this trip, we’ve spent just playing things by ear and enjoying the culture and surroundings. We’ve done this before, but there is also a place and time where you wish you had some additional insights that you wouldn’t know just winging it. In Ireland, most of our trip was just wandering around, enjoying what we could see and looking up what we could find via google or our phones. However, at the Ring of Kerry, Denise decided we’d hire a car driver to take us around and provide some context to the things we were seeing. It added a whole new layer to our trip.

So, we decided, as there was so much to see in Kyoto - the ancient capital of Japan - we’d jump on an all day excursion to see the key sights. Now, think of this as like a “cruise” through Kyoto. None of our stops really got in deep, but we did get to experience a number of the key stops in Kyoto - Nijō Castle, Kinkaku-ji temple, Arashiyama and Fushimi-Inari! All pretty much World Heritage sites.

The trip started on a bus after meeting outside Kyoto station. By this point, I’m sure you understand that there are certain rules for traveling with Denise - Coffee and Bathrooms come to mind first, though food follow quickly behind! So, my job was to find a place for us to get coffee, eat, and use the restroom - all before our tour started at 9 am!

So, thank you Gemini for coming through again, with a lovely little drip coffee shop with breakfast located once again, in a train station! (By now you should be seeing a correlation between food, coffee and restrooms with train stations in Japan!). Knocking off the first three tasks I’m given daily before we even boarded the bus had to have earned me a few brownie points - which is all relative since I think I’m at negative 5,000,000 brownie points at the moment!

Our first stop was Nijō castle which was fascinating. If, like me, which I’m sure if not many of you do, enjoy the period Asian movies and TV shows, you’d love this place. The Shōgun had the other daimyo’s build it after consolidating power in the early 1600’s. It started out as a Castle, but quickly turned into a palace of sorts. As the Edo period began and the Tokugawa Shogunates moved the capital from Kyoto to Edo (present day Japan), they still wanted to keep a presence in the legacy capital, and this castle/palace was it. While we weren’t able to take pictures inside, you can imagine if you’ve seen any of the period pieces, that it was full of beautifully painted walls and ceilings with sliding paper doors. The neatest thing though was the floor. It’s called the nightingale floor because it sings as you walk across it. This was to deter ninja’s from attempting assassinations! I could have spent all day here!

Our second stop was at Kinkaku-ji - the golden temple! This place is beautiful and is now a Buddhist temple as the Shogun in the 1300’s willed it the Buddhist monastery there. It is covered with 14 karat gold leaf and is quite stunning to see. At the time, there was a battle between the Shōgun and the royal court to see which was more powerful. This particular Shōgun required the court to stay on the first floor - no gold leaf! - while he occupied the second floor. The third floor was reserved for the Buddhist God they worshipped. That’s one way to say I’m better than you!

The third stop of the day, where we had lunch was at Arashiyama. This place is known for its picturesque surroundings - the Bamboo forest, the Togetsukyō bridge, and the little village around it filled with people renting kimono’s to take pictures in the beautiful settings. The bamboo forest was crazy, with stalks as big as my legs extending 50 to 100 feet in the air. There were a number of shrines (Shinto) and temples (Buddhist) to see as well as a beautiful park.

We worked our way out of the forest and back to the Train station of course! As that is where our guide recommended that we could get the best value for our meal and have it delivered quick! He wasn’t wrong - the shrimp tempura was wonderful and the udon noodles hit the spot! Denise and I were ready for the final afternoon showdown at the Fushimi Inari Shrine!Read more