Getting up early is not our favorite thing in the world but this time it was necessary to get the most out of our day in Kyoto. Going from Osaka to Tokyo one passes through Kyoto. Therefore, we decided to make a day trip. Eva planned the whole day including transports and sight seeing. She decided to visit 3 major temples as well as some smaller shrines and temples in the area.
We’ll give you an idea about our 1 day itinerary just in case someone is planning a trip to Kyoto.
The best and cheapest way to get around Kyoto is to buy a 1 day city bus pass. You can get it outside of Kyoto main station. Buses leave right in-front of the ticket office.
The tour started in the Kiyomizu Temple area. To get there you have to take bus # 100/ 106 to Goji-zaka station from where you can explore the area. If you walk down to Gion station you’ll pass-by several other temples. But of cause the highlight is the Kiyomizu Temple complex with its spectacular location overlooking the city. That is also why it’s very crowded with tourists. There is a slight chance that it was even more crowed the day of our visit due to public holidays. But than again we got some nice pictures of Japanese women wearing their traditional clothing which looked beautiful.
From Gion we took bus # 100 to Ginkakuji -Michi station. Where the Ginkakuji temple – which is also known as the “silver pavilion” – awaited us. The silver pavilion was never actually covered in silver – the name was given before the plans to cover it in silver were discarded. Unlike the Kiyomizu area there is not much to see besides the Ginkakuji temple and the surrounding sand garden.
Bus #204 took us from Ginkakuji-Michi station to Kinkakuji-Michi station where the counter part to the silver temple is situated. But this time the name Kinkakuji is suitable. It is derived from “the gold leaf” that the pavilion is covered in. Especially around sunset when the temple is put in a warm golden light it seems to glow golden.
On our last stop we bumped into Isaac and a british friend of his. We started talking while trying to hit a small fountain with coins. Obviously Eva was the only one able to hit it.
We think this is the nicest temple we have seen on our rtw so far…
There were a lot of tourist in Kyoto but that was for a reason. We loved this little city
One of the temples was quite impressive, especially from a contractual perspective.
View from the top
Eva found new friends immediately 😉
And we had Udon once more… Still the ones in Osaka are unbeaten!
