Kyoto - not just Tokyo for the dyslexic

The third and final city that we visited in Japan was the charming former capital of Japan; Kyoto. There are many things about this city I like, it's gridded street layout, the way it's nestled into mountains on all sides so that every long straight street you look down terminates in a wall of green, the way the traffic crossings near the station play little melodies as you cross - but as I've decided to limit highlights to three, I've selected these:

1. Temples
Kyoto is full of Budhist temples and Shinto shrines, many are in the city centre, but they are also liberally scattered around the hillside fringe of the city, set in beautiful gardens. One day Dave and I hired bikes and made it to about a dozen temples at five or six different sites. The ones in this hills have great views over the city.

2. Shopping
Kyoto is also packed full of shopping, souviniers and fashion are equally represented. In the center of the city there are long straight covered streets like Shinkyogoku-dori that are very popular. But some of the best shopping for travel trinkets can be done on the streets leading up to the temples. Coming from a christian background it seems a very strage combination of retail and religion, but it works quite well.

3. Trees
For those of you that have read this blog often (yes, all two of you) you would have probably noticed I generally don't wax poetical about nature very often. But it must be said that the bright reds of the Maple trees in Autumn in Japan is breath taking. I feel that this is possibly not really of the category of 'nature' as Japanese gardens tend to be quite well manicured and groomed. Still, the gardens in the temple grounds were beautiful and very soothing... if it wasn't for the crushing hords of fellow tourists.