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2014-05-17 01:01
in Japan, Japan2014, Ntrips, Trips
I had originally planned most of a day in Kyoto to do the east side more leisurely, but since we didn't get to see Kurama the previous day, we went around Kurama in the morning (cable car and hiking to a remote temple high up in the woods). Next to the temple, there was also a treasure museum/nature center worth visiting:
this is where we went hiking to see the temple high up in the mountains
I love those trees
There was a small museum showing what can be found in the mountains around:
can't argue with a map like this :)
lying is bad for you :)
After our walk and collecting our luggage, we took a train back to Kyoto:
Kurama was nice, but we only got back to Kyoto electric bike rental shop around 13:00, which barely give us 4H to see eastern Kyoto. Anyone who knows Kyoto knows it's totally impossible in a day, never mind 4H, so we pressed on :)
We started with Sanjusangendo with its 1001 statues (minus 3 that are on loan to Tokyo, which we got to see later, impressive to say the least):
many many statues :)
this is where they are housed
Then we hiked to Higashiyama street to see Tainai Meguri next to Kiomizu Dera which is now a big mess of renovation. Turns out Tainai Meguri was a bit gimmicky and not worth the trip, but oh well. The shopping street on the way there was fun seeing again though:
Next, we went to Ryozen Kannon which was closed by the time we got to it last year, but for which we saw the buddha sticking out. It's a very nice peaceful temple that has also become a war memorial:
And from there we worked back up and stopped at temples on the way. Chion-in which was mostly closed for renovation too, so we went to Shoren-in instead. After that we went back to Nanzen-ji because we were not able to climb its wooden gate last year, and that was worth it:
This time we managed to get in Eikan-do Zenrin-ji just before it closed. Well, the entrance closed 1h before actual closing time, so we kind of snuck in :) It was well worth it, it's not top on any lists, but it actually has plenty of nice things to see, I'm glad we got to see it:
Next, we went back to Honen-in which doesn't really close, and is nice and peaceful, except for 3 male ducks fighting over a single poor female :)
By then it was past 17:00 so we didn't try to go to the Silver Pavillion which we had seen last year anyway, but biked up there, so that we could bike down the Philosopher's Walk (Tetsugaku no michi) back to where I remembered the outdoors tea room with cats was, and sure enough the cats were there :)
We then went back to Maruyama Park and finished by going through Yasaka Shrine which helpfully does not close, and finished with dinner by Issian Pontocho:
This was a good day in Kurama and Kyoto thanks to the electric bikes again, not bad for a half day in Kyoto :)
