It was a wise decision to stay in Osaka and visit Kyoto for sightseeing. While Osaka was vibrant and full of gloss, glitter and amazing energy, Kyoto was more subdued and old fashioned. I don't know what the distance from Osaka to Kyoto is but bullet trains gets you there in 14 minutes flat. A normal train takes around 40 minutes. Thanks to the speed of the Shinkansens which made Kyoto so accessible - we visited the city twice. Kyoto is a temple town with a never ending list of famous temples. For most people who visit Japan, a visit to this city forms an integral part of itinerary.
Kyoto had once been the capital of Imperial Japan for more than a thousand years. Perhaps that is the reason it has such lovely buildings and temples. It is a city full of history and culture. If we were to visit each famous temple and building there, it would have taken a month. It's said that USA had shortlisted it for atomic bomb attack but it got saved and Hiroshima and Nagasaki got Nuked.
Shinkansen from Shin Osaka station to Kyoto took less time than our visit from our hotel to the Shin Osaka station. Once again we had landed in a town and we had no clue what to see and where to visit. At the station itself we should have gone to tourist office and bought a full day ticket for Yen 500 valid on all city buses. They would have told us where to visit as well. Someone suggested at the bus stop that we go to the golden pavillion or Kinkakuji. We got on to a JR bus and got a free ride (as we had the pass) till a certain place 30 minutes . From here we walked for another 10-15 minutes. It would have been simpler had we bought a day pass and taken a direct bus.
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| Bus routes given to help tourists |
Figuring out the bus routes
There was a ticket to enter the Kinkakuji shrine and we joined hundreds who were entering at the same time. We didn't know what to expect and had been under an impression that we were entering just another shrine. The view of the golden temple built in the middle of a pond was breathtaking. It was really beautiful. The greenery and water gave it a certain serenity which was not disturbed even after having so many people around.
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| The Golden Pavillion is a Zen temple. |
This temple was the former retirement home of the famous shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and after his death it became a Zen temple.
Just a little away from Golden pavilion was Ryoanji temple. This again was a lovely complex with a lot of greenery and lovely pond but it is most famous for the Rock Garden which has 15 rocks laid down in small lots in a smallish rectangular area. Specialty of place is that at least one rock is hidden from view from any position.
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| The Rock Garden. They called it the Zen Garden also |
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| Turtles and lotus leaves at the pond |
The Bamboo Forests
Our adventure continued and we talked to tourists and others and sought their advise regarding places to visit. Ssomeone mentioned that Kyoto was famous for the Arashiyama Bamboo grove. So we hired a cab and got dropped near the grove where we had nice lunch before entering the forest area. It was quite a long ride as we had come to the western part of town now.
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| The Bamboo grove |
It was quite a walk once we entered the forest. This place was also bustling with tourists. In certain places it seemed that darkness had descended upon us as the tall bamboo trees totally covered the sky. Its quite a feeling walking on long narrow paths with bamboo trees on the sides. There was a monkey park in vicinity and another Buddhist temple. There is scenic Saga rail which chuggs along Hozu river giving great views. It is a 25 minute train ride but by the time we reached the station at the end of Bamboo grove, the station had closed down for the day. The train would have taken us near the JR station but unfortunately we had missed the last Saga train. We had no choice but to walk all the way back .
This area of Arashiyama is also famous for Togetsukyo bridge and many people hire a bike and do cycling which I would think would be the best way of exploring the area. I would strongly recommend this as it would give faster access to all the places , many of which we could not cover by foot.
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| Temple complex in the middle of Bamboo grove |
I think everyone was quite tired by the time we took a long walk to the JR station which would get us the train to get us back to Kyoto station. It took more than 30 minutes by train to get to Kyoto station and from there we boarded a Bullet train to take us to Osaka.
I was telling the family that there were many more lovely places to discover in Kyoto but they were least interested at this point of time. They had walked quite a bit and were quite fed up. They decided that if at all they had to walk, it would be in Osaka in the touristy Namba region. They had shopping on their mind at this stage.
Back again for Kiyomizu Dera
A couple of days later we were back at Kyoto for a short trip as I wanted to visit the Kiyomizu Dera temple which was perched up on a cliff. One had to walk up the winding path full of shops and activity to get to the temple. Till now the shrines we had visited were peaceful and serene but this temple was different. Throughout the way there were shops. Lovely souvenirs and eatables were there to tempt tourists like us. I even tried their green tea flavored softy ice cream.
The views from the temple were fabulous and many people come here at sunset time. The main hall rests on 139 giant pillars. The entire complex was buzzing and it has some nice paths going towards the forest area.
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| The path leading to the shrine |
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| Koyasu Pagoda |
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