On our fourth day in Japan, we headed from our home base of Osaka to Kyoto. With all there is to see in Kyoto (there are
17 World Heritage Sites in Kyoto, and many many more non-World Heritage Sites), we planned to spend two days in the city (still not nearly enough time). We didn't see a whole lot, but this is what we saw: First, we went to
Ginkaku-ji, aka the temple of the silver pavilion. While it's not actually silver, it is (according to my mom) the most popular with Japanese people, as it is in a more traditional Japanese style compared with Kinkaku-ji.
Kinkaku-ji, aka the temple of the golden pavilion, is actually golden. This, as you may imagine, is quite a sight, and very popular among international travelers. I believe I saw this temple about 16 years ago while on a trip with my parents and sister, but we just didn't have the time to see it on this trip. Another site to put on our list for our next trip!
Ginkaku-ji was beautiful. The gardens were lush and mossy, and incorporated some impressive sand garden. How does the sand hold its form? I'm going to guess hairspray (I think I've heard that they use that in sandcastle-building contests, but I could be making that up).
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| Sand garden |
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| This is supposed to represent Mt. Fuji...I'm not completely convinced, but it's still pretty neat. |
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| Craig in front of the main pavilion |
After our walk down the hill from Ginkaku-ji, we stopped at a little stand to get some green tea flavored treats! No, the cold won't stop us from having a little ice cream while on our vacation!
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| Green tea ice cream puff |
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| Green tea cream puff...a little less cold than the ice cream! |
Our walk south down the
Philosopher's Path led us to several temples and shrines.
Honen-in temple was the biggest one we encountered. It was beautiful with the fall colors in the trees (in December!), and very serene.
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| Honen-in temple |
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| Honen-in temple |
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| Honen-in temple |
There were also smaller shrines like this...This one seemed to be dedicated to mice and dogs...
whatever the meaning, I'm not completely sure at this point, but it was pretty neat.
Finally, the last stop of the day was
Kiyomizu-dera temple. This place has a great view of the city, and fortunately, we got there just before sunset with some pretty dramatic clouds hanging around.
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| Kiyomizu-dera temple entrance |
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| Kiyomizu-dera temple entrance |
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| Pagoda at Kiyomizu-dera temple |
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| The back deck of Kiyomizu-dera temple |
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