Kyoto

Kyoto was amazing and well worth the visit! We split our sightseeing up into 3 full days, also spending the first evening wandering around the very impressive Kyoto Railway Station. Not going to say much about Kyoto here as not sure where to start, but hopefully some of our photographs speak for themselves.

First day we went to Arashiyama district and visited Tenru-ji and the famous bamboo groves, then on to the gorgeous Gio-ji (a small forest temple with lots of moss and momiji - we highly recommend this and was one of our favourites), Ryoan-ji and it's zen garden and also some rather amazing rainbow coloured momiji trees, then finally Kinkaku-ji (the golden pavillion), which was also one of our favourites.

Kyoto Station

The bamboo groves of Arashiyama

Gio-ji

Ryoan-ji zen garden

Rainbow coloured momiji

Kinkaku-ji

The 2nd day we headed northeast to the Path of Philosophy and gthe many temples and shrines along it's route. We started at Nanzen-ji at the southern end, then did a small detour up into the hills to visit a little forest shrine behind Nanzen-ji - Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in, the path which also led us into an old cemetary hidden in the forest. We emerged on the path again just north of Eikan-do. We wandered along the Path of Philosophy to Honen-in with it's lovely moss covered gate, sand garden and a local photographers gallery. Finally we reached Ginkaku-ji (the silver paviillion). We also stopped at the local monthly market held at Chion-ji but didn't stay long as we could hardly move for the crowds!

Nazen-ji aqueduct

Nanzen-ji Oku-no-in

The Path of Philosophy

Ginkaku-ji

Our 3rd day saw us up early and on the train south a couple of stops to the business shrine of Fushimi Inari Taisha. The hundreds of red/orange torii gates that wind around this hilly shrine are amazing and were another highlight of our time in Kyoto. Was also wonderfully quiet on a monday morning after a rather crowded and busy weekend. We spent the rest of the day in Gion and the Southern Higashiyama district, wandering around some amazing craft shops and wonderful old streets.

Dave and Kate at Fushimi Inari Taisha

Torii gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha