Kyoto

Arrived to yet another hectic station with too many exits and off course we choose the wrong one to get to the bus terminal. Finally on a hot and over packed bus we made it to the hostel and dumped our bags as we were too early to check in.
We decided to follow the hundreds of people heading up a slight hill as we guessed that meant another temple or shrine. After walking through the usual shops and food stalls we came to the Kiyomizu-dera temple. This is one of the most popular in Japan as if you go to the top you get great views of the blossom and of the city below. Many ladies are dressed in their kimono`s which seems to be the norm when visiting these places. After visiting this area we went back and checked into our hostel where another bunk bed in a 12 bed dorm awaited us. That evening we went to the Gion area where old city meets new, interesting place.

Kiyomizu-dera at the bottom

Kiyomiza-dera at the top

Ladies in their kimono`s

Fushimo-Inari Shrine

After a heavy day of walking and my ankles killing me we thought we would take it easy after our visit to Nara. So as it was raining when we got up we stayed local and went for a walk to the Imperial Palace not realising its not open to the public but the gardens were lovely to visit. It had stopped raining so we jumped on a train and went looking for the Fushimo-Inari Shrine. 

Made it to the top of Mt.Inari

Fushimo-Inari Shrine

Imperial Palace

Little did I realise that you had to walk to the top of Mt.Inari, the route is lined with Torii which are the red arches. The summit is 233 meters and is covered with 32,000 sub shrines and I think we saw 31,000 of them. It was a great climb and very pretty even with the low cloud and damp drizzle.

Geisha Girl