To Kyoto

I took the Hida train from Takayama to Nagoya. The view looks magnificent.

The route was filled with beautiful rivers and waterways. Nature presents itself with its utmost beauty. These photos do not do enough justice to the splendour.

Beautiful towns here and there on the way. Bear the reflection of my camera, the window of the train was a bit too reflective.

A snippet of Gifu city.

After arriving at Nagoya, I took the Tokaido shinkansen for one stop to Kyoto.

Gion district

I decided to start light, going to where I have been before. This time, I managed to see some Geisha with heavy makeup walking around. However, they are rather hard to catch.

Exactly the same spot as last time! Yasaka shrine lights up at night, giving itself a beautiful charm. This time, I decided to enter the shrine.

Beautiful lighting inside Yasaka shrine!

I bought Taiyaki at the exact same spot that I got 2 years ago. And it tastes as good as I remember.

Kyoto imperial palace

I resolved to revisit this place, since I did not manage to come inside last time due to new year festivities. There are two palaces within the compound: the main palace (aka Kyoto imperial palace) and the Sento palace (aka Kyoto Sento imperial palace).

Main palace

The palace has been preserved since 1877 during the Meiji restoration. The palace is surrounded by a beautiful garden, where trees were donated by residents for the on-going preservation effort.

The palace has a drawn path to follow. There are quite a number of buildings serving various purposes: meetings, processions, resting, etc.

The area in front of the main core building is used for processions, while the space inside the building contains resting space.

The garden inside the palace looks even more beautiful than the outside, it gives me flashbacks to the Kenrokuen garden.

Sento palace

Unlike the main palace, you have to book a tour on a first-come-first-serve basis to get into the Sento palace.

The palace is meant for retired emperors to stay and develop personal life. There are multiple halls for resting, tea, entertainment, etc.

At the center of a palace is a beautiful garden with a pond.

Arashimaya bamboo forest

Last time when I was in Kyoto, we went to this bamboo forest at a later time in the day, so we couldn’t see much of the forest. This time I arrived earlier.

The afternoon sun pierces through the bamboo, illuminating the forest with a dim light. This makes the forest not too hot and not too dark, creating the perfect condition to walk through.

I also managed to stop by Tenryu-ji temple outlooking to a beautiful pond and a decent walking trail. I have to say, at this point of time the number of gardens I have seen starts to saturate.

Wagyu donburi

I stopped by a Wagyu donburi restaurant.

The tower of beef looks so nice! It is flavourful, worth the 30-minute wait. Nevertheless, I would still prefer the cooked version of beef.

Higashiyama district

The next morning, I set out for this district. This is a district of temples, and is SUPER touristy! I could also see lots of Westerners wearing Kimono 🥴

Kiyomizu-dera

This temple sits on high ground, with a short hiking route, where I could see a beautiful city view.

The view is nice, but there are too many people.

There are lots of worship activities, and even the local students participate. But don’t ask me what charm or what result I got :) I did not try.

Hokan-ji temple

I finally found this street with a beautiful cobblestoned walkway and the Hokan-ji temple far in the background. Initially I thought this is in Gion district, but it is actually outside the Gion district area indicated on Google maps.

The temple is unfortunately closed, it is open only on Saturdays and Sundays. So I got a 280-yen ice cream right in front of the temple. Just a few steps up the slope or towards Kodaiji temple, the same ice cream costs 500 yen.

Kodaiji temple

The entry cost of 800 yen covers both the temple and the museum, while there isn’t much to see in the museum, there is quite a scene to see in the temple.

There is even a mini bamboo forest!

The monks must have had a very good time meditating in this temple with a beautiful garden and a bamboo forest.

Sirloin cutlet

I had lunch nearby. I had to wait for a while, the restaurant has a good rating on Google maps.

They offer beef cutlet medium rare, and also a mini pan if you want to make the beef more cooked. Definitely worth the price, but not worth the wait.

Teramachi

I finished the itinerary for today early, so in the afternoon, I headed to Teramachi. The shopping street is just a few steps across the street from Gion. I had vague memory of visiting a similar shopping street in Osaka in the last trip.

The street consists of a complex network of shops selling a huge variety of products. I visited a shop selling stickers, and managed to catch a few interesting stickers.

They also sell other “interesting” stickers, not appropriate to be shared here :) They don’t have Doraemon stickers, so instead I bought myself a sticker that can be used if anyone wants a gift from me.

Lots and lots of other shops selling great merchandise too. The street isn’t exactly one street, the shopping area consists of a few street that can easily consume one afternoon.

I got myself a crepe with nutella and custard. Yum!

Concluding words

Kyoto offers a very unique introduction to the history and culture of Japan, and is a must-visit city for first timers in Japan. I stayed only for 2.5 days and managed to visit all that I wanted to visit. I did not visit Fushimi Inari since I have been there last time, if you account for this then it takes 3 days to fully explore Kyoto. Do note also that it is super touristy, so I would not visit it again. Nevertheless, it is a great experience.