Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Asia Mega Tour II - Kyoto Second Day Photos

On our second full day in Kyoto we focused on two of the better known areas on the outside of the city. These were the Fushimi Inari Taisha, renowned for its extensive, impressive Torii gates, and the Arashiyama area that is known for its Sagano Bamboo Grove Road, its Tenruyuji Temple with its very old extensive garden, and its Togetsu-Kyo Bridge.

After the masses of humanity that we ran into the day before at Kyomizu-dera, which was a Sunday, we were looking forward to fewer folks on a Monday. We were wrong. Evidently according to Wife in Kyoto there is no 'off-season'. There is only High Season, Really High Season, Insanely High Season. Plus it is graduation time for high schools and colleges so there are all kinds of new graduates traveling around and Kyoto is one of THE PLACES to travel to...hence all the young folk dressed up in traditional garb.
Fushimi Inari Taisha

We loves our JR Rail Pass. For all the local trains, you just wave it as you pass through the check points. No buying tickets or anything.
Fushimi Inari is one of THE places to go to in Kyoto
Here's where we'll be going
Entering the Shrine



And on to the Torii Gates







But I want you to have the true experience of how tranquil and meditative it is to go to this Shrine




Rumor has it if you bitch too much about the number of people at the Shrine, they feed you to the demon dogs. That's why there's a bib on the demon dog, so your guts don't soil its fur.
After we finished with the shrine we went to an area filled with all kinds of stalls selling food. We had some winners and losers. 






Then it was back to Kyoto by train, change trains and go off to Arashiyama


Going through the Bamboo Grove Road




Watching the young graduate tourists


On to Tenryuji Temple and its famous gardens













Then it was over to the Togetsu-kyo Bridge
This is touted as one of the major symbols of Arashiyama but to be honest I wasn't all that taken with it.


Despite all our traveling and walking around, we still got back to the hotel by about 4:30 so we could take a nap before dinner.




3 comments:

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

That's the problem with being a tourist - you have to put up with all the other tourists...

alexis said...

It definitely looks like there were more dressed up tourists when you were there then when we were there!

Agent W and the Derf said...


Your travels are fascinating!