It took us eight hours to get to Kyoto from Mt Fuji, a total of 2 buses, 4 trains and the struggle of carrying our bags up about five flights of stairs. But we can say it was well worth it. Kyoto is very pretty and has a lot of charm. Restaurants line a river that runs down the middle of the city, you can also sit down beside it with a few drinks, which is how we spent our first night.
Day 1
Our first day in Kyoto was spent visiting Kiyomizu Temple & Fushimi Inari Shrine.
It was an incredible hot day! reaching about 36 degrees.
Kiyomizu Temple
We were stopped by a group of young school girls who were at the shrine to practise their English, describing local sweets to visitors. They were giggling most of the time but did very well.
Fushimi Inari Shrine
The Fushimi Inari Shrine is most famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates. Fushimi Inari is the most important of several thousands of shrines dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. The torii gates along the entire trail are donations by individuals and companies, you can find the donator's name and the date of the donation inscribed on the back of each gate. The hike to the summit of the mountain and back takes about 2-3 hours. Our hike up was intense, we were definitely sweating off our wontons! We got about 3km to the top when we passed a man on his way back, we asked him if the peak was worth it, when he replied "its really just more temples", we high-fived on our achievements and turned back.
Our reward: some shaved ice!
Our hostel is located above a sake bar, so on Thursday night we did a sampling of sake from Kyoto. Heres what we thought.
Day 2
Bamboo Trail Walk
