We love Kyoto so much that we decided to visit twice! This time we are staying near Kyoto Station so that we can easily take day trips to other prefectures. But for our first two days back, we have taken the time to continue exploring Kyoto.
On Monday evening, when we returned, we walked to the famous Higashi-Hongani Temple and Ryukokuzan Hongwanji Temples right next to our hotel.
And then had a delicious teppanyaki dinner at a restaurant based in our hotel!
The following morning we woke early to visit the famous Fushimi Inari shrine before it became too busy. It is a huge shrine, with a thousand Tori (gates) spanning a substantial portion of the mountain, with many small shrine stops along the way. We hikes through the gates for two and a half hours!
In the afternoon we returned to our previous ryokan for tea with Yoko, the inn’s hostess. We had a wonderful time, and ended up talking for another two and a half hours!
Wednesday morning we were pretty tired from our hike at Inari shrine, so we decided to take it easier and head to the Nishiki market. We enjoyed our time strolling through the markets, complete with wagyu beef skewers and soufflé pancakes!
We then wandered Gion, and marveled at the old streets where Geisha still wander at times.
For dinner, we had the best Ramen and Tsukemen that we’ve ever tasted… we will definitely be returning to Ginjo Ramen Kubota before leaving Kyoto!
