Kyoto, Japan

Kyoto, with a population of 1.5 million was the Imperial Capital of Japan for over 1000 years. If you look at this map it seems to be equal distance from London and New York and it feels a long way from Newfoundland...

Kyoto was spared heavy bombing in World War II and as a result still has a lot of older buildings around the city unlike Hiroshima. The central part of the city has many small streets and is a pleasure to walk around and see the sights...

Also like many other places in Japan it is located in a valley surrounded by rivers...

It is now Golden Week in Japan which is the longest period of holidays in the year so many Japanese are on the go and a lot of them are here in Kyoto. We went for a walk on the Main Street early and the crowds were out in full force, by later in the day we could barely move on the street...

 

The Japanese are big shoppers and nowhere is this more evident than here, everyone is going with shopping bags!

They are also quite fashionable and I loved the colors I saw here...

Lots of kimonos for sale or rent...

Here we saw two kimono clad girls walking ahead of us...

I asked if I could take their picture...

On every corner there is a shrine or a temple...

Around the neighbourhood we are staying there are some as well so we went out one evening to visit them after the crowds were gone. It was so nice to walk the streets in the evening...

You notice that many of the shrines here are orange which indicate they are Shinto shrines not Buddhist temples.

Some of the small streets at night are very lovely...

The Gion district is quite lively at night and this is where a lot of the geishas work...

No, I am not a geisha!

At night this area is also full of shopping streets...

Lots of couples in traditional clothes..

They also like their sweets with many shops selling different varieties and like with everything else here they are so dainty and well packaged.

Lots of places to eat as well...

Here was one of the main shopping streets at night...

One of the most visited sights in Kyoto is the Inari-Taisha Shrine which is located on the base of a mountain and includes a trail up the mountain where you walk through thousands of torii or gates. Inari is the patron of business so each gate was donated by a Japanese businessperson to bring them good fortune....

The shrine...

 The people...

As at all the shrines we visit there are many places to worship...

The offerings were brought to the altar, looked like bottles of sake...

Here worshippers line up to lift the heavy stone ball from its resting place and if it feels lighter than your ego, you will lead a lucky life.  

Then everyone starts the climb thorough the gates...

Some people walk outside because of the crowds..

It is quite beautiful walk and would be even better without the crowds but this is Japan...

As we got higher there were fewer people...

Smaller gates from people without a lot of money...

On the way down we also walked outside to avoid the crowds and we enjoyed our visit here as it is quite an interesting place and a little insight into how people worship here.

We also made our way to another walk in the woods and this was to the Bamboo Forest, a walking trail through lots of bamboo trees...

Lots of people here as well...

Some getting a lift...

Some neat shops along the way...

Our final stop for that day was to the Niro Castle which is a typical Japanese castle quite different from what we know...

It consists of several large spacious buildings that are made of cypress and are very simply designed and was built in 1626 by the Shogun who was the military leader of the time. We were allowed to tour some of the buildings with beautiful gold leaf paintings adorning the walls. All of this was done to show the power and the wealth of the Shoguns...

The castle is protected by a moat as well as thick walls...

We also strolled through the gardens...

We walked a lot that day, a little over 15 Kms, and on the way back to the train we came across this beautiful garden...

With a lovely bridge...

Another night we walked by the river that has restaurants and bars on the riverbanks...

Performers...

One of the customs here is for couples to find a place on the riverbank at night and keep enough space between them for privacy, there were lots that night...

Funny enough we ended up at an Irish pub run by a Japanese guy and had Guiness with delicious fish and chips made with fresh cod....a taste of home!

An Austrailan server and the young people next to us were from Australia and Scotland.

As you can tell from the photos we really enjoyed Kyoto, so much to see and do that we barely scratched the surface. The city is small and safe enough to walk around and when we wanted to go further afield the public transportation was fast and reliable. Overall a great stop!