My plan to get from Osaka to Kyoto involved a 40 min trip to Shin-Osaka main station hoping on train for another 40 mins, changing to the subway and making my way to the hotel.
Before I left the Osaka hostel I asked for the best route to Kyoto from Osaka. The guy informed that I could catch the subway and after two changes I could be at the station near the hotel.
By complete fluke the train I caught went directly from the stop next to my hotel in Osaka to the stop next to my hotel in Kyoto. This is amazing because these two cities are about 56km apart. That is Japanese efficiency for you.
Once in Kyoto and settle I decided to start exploring. Kyoto is renowned for its temples and has some of the best in Japan. This is why I have not really visited temples in Toyko and Osaka and have saved my temple visiting for Kyoto.
On my way to first temple I walked towards the river to find the first temple when I looked in Starbuck window and spotted Brian, the guy I’d met at a friends hostel in Osaka and then again in Namba region. We got very well and it was odd that we should bump into each other once again. He was heading to different temple 9km away so we arranged to meet at the bridge over the main river at 8am in the evening for some food, which we did before headed to back home because he volunteering on a farm in the north of Japan tomorrow and has an early start.
The first Temple or Shrine I visited was called Yasaka and the ground and the sites around it were beautiful. What adds to the atmosphere is the Japanese tourist who visit each of these temples and shires dress up in kimonos and traditional wear as they look around.
Each of the temples site are linked by either green space like in the case Yaska Shrine and the Chion-in temple which was a nice, but nothing spectacular. Or they are connected by twisty streets like to the main temple called Kiyomizu-dera.
These twisty streets are full of quirky little shops and are very crowded but definitely worth exploring.
Tomorrow I book in to another hotel which is near the main train station and the main attraction in Kyoto which is a Shinto shrine called Fushimi Inari-taisha.
