Fushimi Inari Taisha

Our first stop of the day was Fushimi Inari Taisha which is a mountainside Shinto shrine dating back to 711AD which also has a path with 100’s of traditional red gates. We thought it would be really busy so we caught an early train and arrived at 8am and there were not too many people there. It also meant it wouldn’t be as hot although it was already well above 30 degrees.

We set off along the path and climbed up the hill through the red gates. After about 20 minutes we decided that we had climbed enough so turned around.

^{The red gates at Fushimi Inari Taisha – being early meant there were no crowds!}

We followed a different path back down and came across a shrine which was full of ornamental cats and statues. There were also lots of little shops but they were all closed so we chilled on a bench for a little while and had some drinks.

^{On our route back down the hillside.}

When we reached the bottom Tom & Izzy got their books stamped and as we walked back to the train station we saw our first Japanese Koi in a little pond.

To-ji Temple

We trained it back to Kyoto and then took a bus to To-ji Temple (a Buddhist temple with a five story pagoda). We were getting good at navigating Kyoto public transport and google maps definitely helped. It was only 10am so still really early and as we arrived we followed a couple who were fully kitted out in kimonos who were taking photos of each other.

I spent ages trying to take aesthetic pictures of the flowers with the temple in the background and we also found a pond full of turtles. We wandered round the gardens, pagoda and temple before returning to the bus stop.

^{Exploring the gardens at To-ji Temple.}

Nishiki Market

We then travelled by bus to Nishiki Market for lunch. There were lots of stands selling all sorts of seafood but we found a katsu restaurant and I had pork katsu which was really good.

^{Nishiki Market}

We were getting quite tired again at this point so headed home for the afternoon as we wanted to visit Kyoto Station in the evening and see the staircase and the tower lit up. We spent ages watching the light show on the staircase before getting the bus home as our legs were very tired!

^{An evening in Kyoto}