We walked down the Path of Philosophy and ended up at San-mon gate. We climbed up to the second story (after removing our shoes and carrying them up with us in plastic bags) and the view from the top was fantastic. We could see Nanzen-ji temple right next to us and out across the entire city.
We did alot of walking, and this is some of what we saw.
We walked through a cobbled alley called Ishibei-koji which is lined with traditional Japanese inns and restaurants and looked magical in the afternoon light.
Then it was off to walk through Maruyama park - the parks here are amazing - so peaceful and perfectly maintained.
Right next to the park was Yasaka Shrine...middle photo is mine.
More walking...my photo again (got to claim what I can!). We walked through the floating world of Gion and Pontocho just as night was falling - gorgeous.
Photo taken during dinner. More interesting than a traditional selfie.
Day 2 in Kyoto. We started the day walking through the Nishiki food markets. There were things I'd never even heard of there and it was all beautifully presented.
We went to Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which consists of five different shrines spread out across the slopes of Inari-san. The shrines are connected by a 4km pathway which is lined with hundreds of red torii and it was so much fun to wander through them.
More walking on the way to our next destination.
Iwatayama Monkey Park! We walked for 20 minutes uphill before coming across the monkeys. They were roaming free around an observation area and we were able to walk around with them, while also enjoying an amazing view of Kyoto. The baby monkey in one of the photos even started climbing at my leg at one stage!!! I was told to stay very still and before I knew it the monkey's mother had raced over and grabbed her baby off my leg! Ben filmed it, so we'll try and blog the movie later...it was very funny :)
Our last stop for the day was Ryoan-ji temple, which had a lovely pond covered with water lillies and a famous zen rock garden.
Japanese lunch boxes - you buy them at the train station and we had ours for dinner on the bullet train to Hiroshima.
Day 3 - Hiroshima.
We stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel, with tatami mats and futons to sleep on. In the morning, we hired bicycles for the day and rode around everywhere on them - it was a lot of fun. We headed to the new baseball stadium down the road first before paying a quick visit to Hiroshima castle.
Then we cycled to Hiroshima Peace Park and visited many of the memorials there, including the A-Bomb Dome, the Children's Peace Monument, which was surrounded with thousands of origami cranes (in honour of Sadako and all the other children who died) and also the Peace Memorial Museum. The focus is on remembering the past and learning from it for the future and they are committed to eliminating nuclear warfare worldwide.
Lunch time! We had Okonomiyaki, a speciality in Hiroshima. It's a crepe with cabbage, noodles, shallots, garlic, egg and some other ingredients. It was really nice and great to be able to watch it being made too.
We then caught a ferry to Miyajima Island and the minute we stepped out of the port we were greeted by wild deers! They were everywhere...they just wander around the town and there are signs everywhere with warnings, including not to touch them...we didn't read them til after I'd patted one though, oops!
Ben with the world's largest rice spoon!
We also saw the Otori Gate, which is a massive structure, over 16m high and weighing over 60 tonnes, which sits out in the water surrounding the island.
Day 4 - Osaka. We visited Osaka Castle, which had an impressive moat!
Then visited Dotombori, a famous shopping and entertainment area in Osaka.
Last stop, the Osaka Aquarium. I don't like fish generally, but this place was amazing. We saw dolphins, otters, seals, whale sharks, penguins. Very cool!
1 comment:
Incredible! Thanks for sharing all your photos and experiences with us.
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