Kyoto - The Garden City

When I read all the literature on Kyoto I thought it might be a bit over-hyped.  It is compared to Paris and Rome as a place of beauty that you could go back to again and again.  It’s probably a fair assessment.  The train station area where you arrive at looks more like an airport (super new, atrium ceilings, lots of glass) but the beauty spots aren’t far.  We walked through the rain to our hostel, the first time on our trip we had less than amazing weather and got settled in.

 

There are two main scenic areas in the city one on the west side and the other on the east.  The west side, called Arashiyama, was our first stop.  It was basically all temples and gardens from here on out but they are incredibly beautiful, particularly the gardens and the colours they produce.  The photos describe it best:

Some of the beautiful greens of Gio-Ji

A movie star's house & gardens - Okochi Sanso

Lakeside view at Tenryu-Ji

The bamboo forest in Arashiyama

That evening we had an eventful dash around the city to find a bar that was showing the Ireland v’s Australia match.  After walking through the rain for over an hour we finally found a place and there were only 20 minutes gone.  We watched with an Aussie, a Kiwi and some English guys whose expert opinion was that Ireland couldn’t win.  It was an enjoyable 80 minutes or so and we left good friends with the Kiwi fella.

The next day we explored the eastern district of Higashiyama on bicycles.  Kyoto is fantastic for bikes except when parking them.  At the busy tourist spots you have to pay 2 euro to park your bicycle in a bike car park.  If you park it illegally it gets towed – no doubt the rest of the world will take up this money making racket someday.  Again the pictures tell the story here with more beautiful temples.

Bicycle re-fueling

Meditation Garden in Higashiyama

Traditional Japanese beauty

Ginkaku-Ji Temple

Walking the path of philosophy

We finished off the day by walking the Path of Philosophy and going to a renowned Ramen restaurant.  The broth was a really thick dark soup (unlike any clear broth Ramen I’ve ever eaten) and the pork melted in your mouth like chocolate does – it was delicious.  It was also really authentic as the décor (if that’s what you’d call it) hadn’t been changed since the building went up and we were served at a counter by a chef who most definitely enjoyed his produce.  A couple of beers and a night time cycle by the river path with paper lanterns on everywhere made for a very memorable day.

Our last day in Kyoto took us to Kinkaku-Ji, the one temple that wasn't really in any tourist area but looked magnificent in photographs so we made the trek to the Northern end of the city to take it in.  We thought it was worth it and we also had a really enjoyable walk back an hour or so through the back streets of the city.  That afternoon we took in the Kyoto Manga museum which was a real insight into Japanese culture.  Manga (effectively a style of comic) is the most popular literature in Japan and is enjoyed by all ages and demographics.  They had reading areas aplenty so we spent the afternoon reading some English series.

Kinkaku-Ji (or golden temple)

Gardens of the golden temple

All ages reading it up in the Manga museum

Claire gets into some Strawberry 100%

Our one disappointment for Kyoto was that the shop we most wanted to go to never opened while we were there.  Oh well, it’s an excuse to go back.  Heads filled with fiction we hopped on yet another train to Hiroshima.

Mmmmmmm, magical cheese