To Kyoto

Armed with our newly activated Japan Rail Passes we left Fukuoka on the Shinkansen at 11.15 this morning, missed our connection at Osaka Station (we only had a changeover time of 5 minutes) but had no difficulty picking up the next train to Kyoto which only seemed to be about 25 minutes out of Osaka.

It was easy getting our bearings at Kyoto Station and walking the 100 metres or so to our funky little Sakura Terrace The Gallery Hotel.

We were keen to get out and about after the hours sitting in the train and we felt brave enough to tackle the local bus system, after learning the ropes from Haruko in Fukuoka. 

And we did it!!! We took the 207 bus to the nearest stop to the Kiyomizudera Temple in the beautiful wooded hills overlooking the city to the SE.

I loved seeing this temple on our last visit in 2016 and was looking forward to seeing it again in mid-Autumn. But we were a bit disappointed with our visit this time. For one thing it was impossibly crowded with visitors ........

 The Autumn colours are not at their peak.......

 But worst of all the beautiful wooden main hall of the temple was shrouded in scaffolding and covers - A UNESCO listed building UNDER REPAIRS!!!!!!

 At least the brightly painted Koyasu Pagoda at the far southern end of the temple grounds looked beautiful in the late afternoon light.

 This is meant to be a quiet contemplative area of the temple, but this afternoon there were hundreds of yellow hatted noisy school children dominating the serenity.

 The temple grounds give you great views over downtown Kyoto.

 We always enjoy a matcha ice cream after our visits to the Kiyomizudera Temple. 

 We even braved a (very) crowded local bus trip back to Kyoto Station.

 Kyoto railway station is one of the seven wonders of the world. You could easily live eat and die there without ever having to leave! We had fun choosing some goodies for our supper and Rob enjoyed finding his favourite dumpling shop from our last visit!