6 days Japan Kansai region travel by train --- Day 4, Kyoto

     The morning of Day 4 in Kansai greeted us with a  clear blue sky.

Morning in Osaka

   Today we headed out to Kyoto. Allowing only two days to see Kyoto was surely an injustice to this marvelous city. Originally, we tried to be fairly realistic and planned only to see the historic district Gion 祇園 of geisha fame, the temple Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺, and the shrine Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稻荷大社 with its famous torii path (千本鳥居). We ended up wandering through a number of other places along the way.



  This time we took the Keihan Electric Railway 京阪電車. We got to the Yodoyabashi station 淀屋橋駅 just in time to catch the Limited Express service to Gion-Shijo station 祇園四条駅.

Osaka-Kyoto train pass

Hanamikoji Street, Gion

   There was a sizable crowd standing outside one of the houses on a quiet side alley. With camera in hand, everyone was waiting expectantly. Judging that they were not ill-informed foreign tourists, but local paparazzi who knew the right place and right time to wait for a valued photo opportunity, we became interested to see the subject of their interest. So, we waited along with the orderly crowd. After a short while, the wait proved not to be in vain. Cameras started slapping away at the emerging figure dressed in exquisite costume.

Stepping out to meet the local paparazzi

Alley in Gion

Hanamikoji Street, Gion 祇園 花見小路

Leaving Hanamikoji street, we wandered through several places in the neighbourhood.

Centre stage at Yasaka Shrine 八坂神社

Maruyama Park 圓山公園  neighbouring Yasaka Shrine

Next to Maruyama Park is the temple Chion-in 知恩院.

Sanmon, the main gate of Chion-in.  知恩院 三門.

 Chion-in temple 知恩院

Chion-in temple 知恩院

After the unplanned detour, we speeded up towards Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺.  Along the way, we passed through the charming streets of  Ninenzaka 二年坂 and Sannenzaka 三年坂,  which are lined with small shops and tea-houses.

Ninenzaka 二年坂

Sannenzaka 三年坂

At the top of the steps is the Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺.

Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺

Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺

After a tour of the temple, it was already well into the afternoon. So we had to hurry a bit to make it to the last place that we had planned to visit, the Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稻荷大社. We walked to the Keihan Kiyomizu-Gojo Station 京阪電車 清水五条駅, which was actually a fairly long walk considering our short of time. It was a short ride to the Fushimi Inari Station 伏見稻荷駅 though.

Many tourists go to Fushimi Inari-Taisha because of its famous torii path 千本鳥居. The seemingly endless line of distinctive red-coloured torii was truly stunning and imposing.

Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稻荷大社

Torii path at Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稻荷大社, 千本鳥居

Torii path at Fushimi Inari-Taisha 伏見稻荷大社, 千本鳥居

We concluded the day trip to Kyoto with a double scoop ice cream cone, with tofu and sesame as the selected flavours.

Overview: 6 days in Kansai, Japan