We spent nine nights in Kyoto, our first stop in Japan. The weather was cold and unusually snowy, which definitely impacted our ability to see the city and the surrounding area. Nonetheless, we managed to enjoy ourselves and, as you will see, the snow provided a beautiful background for many of our photos.
Kyoto is a city of temples and shrines. There are hundreds of them. While we saw many, we definitely limited ourselves because after awhile it just gets to be too much. In the majority of cases, a visit to a temple is really more of an opportunity to walk through the gardens and enjoy the Zen provided by their design, especially in the snow. Probably the most beautiful site was Kinkakuji, known as the Golden Pavillion (for obvious reasons).
Another incredible stop was Fushimi Inari Shrine, with its 1000 Torii gates. Set on the edge of Kyoto at the base of Mount Inari, there are many small shrines at the site, along with the main one. Here, foxes are considered to be sacred, and there are statues of foxes everywhere (but, unlike the sacred deer of Nara, no real foxes).
The gates are really interesting, and we walked the entire path to the top of the mountain despite the slick conditions from the seemingly ever-present ice/snow.
We also visited Tenryugi Temple, and the nearby famous bamboo groves in the area of Arashiyama. It was extremely busy there because we went on a Sunday, and many Japanese families were out enjoying the relatively good weather.
After seeing the bamboo groves and temple, we visited Arashiyama's most amusing residents, a group of about 120 snow monkeys that you can see up close.
We even got a chance to see the monkeys being fed, which led to what can only be called a feeding frenzy.
We will have a lot more to come about Kyoto, but we should say that the food in Japan is fantastic. Many restaurants here are dedicated to just one style of Japanese food, and we have enjoyed many different foods, most of which are extremely inexpensive (ramen, udon, tempura, okonomiyaki (a pancake made from vegetables, eggs and meat cooked on a griddle at your table), and tonkatsu (fried pork or chicken served in a brown sauce with potato salad and a coleslaw-like salad) can be had for less that $20 for 2).
We also had a Kaiseki meal, which consists of a series of small dishes served in a traditional order. The staff at the Kaiseki restaurant were so kind in helping us first get a reservation, and later providing an English translation of the food in the various dishes we tried. It was a bit expensive, but extremely delicious, and we even tried puffer fish, which is the dish that can kill you if not prepared correctly (fortunately, we are still here), which we felt was o.k. but maybe not worth the risk.
Finally, we have eaten very good pizza and fantastic burgers in Kyoto. They also have really good fancy coffee shops with excellent pour over coffee. So, our time here has definitely been an eating fest.
More from Kyoto to come soon.
Jeff and Shana
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