Kyoto–Day 7 (Part 1)

So todays little adventure can probably be labelled Lost in Kyoto Parts I and II.

I’d managed to locate the machine that dispenses the Kyoto 2 day travel card. This provides free access to the subway and buses for 48 hours from purchase.

My aim was to head out towards the North West of the city and see the temples in that area. The only problem is that this area is not well served by the subway so I knew I would have to do plenty of walking.

After exiting the subway I headed north and unfortunately the further I went the more and more suburban it became. The more and more I realized that there wasn’t any English to help me find my direction and finally I had to admit that I was getting lost.

Time to take my first life line, my mobile phone with GPS and Google Maps. After firing it up and downloading the map I was abled to find that I was indeed heading the wrong direction. After a quick course correct I was back on track for my first destination, the Ninna-ji temple.

One of the parts of this temple is the palace that served as the residence for the ex-emperor. I would say that this is really worth seeing.

It has this amazing garden that you can look at from a wooden veranda. It is really very pretty and quite serene.

Aside from the palace there are a number of other structures on the site.

including this bell tower.

and a five story pagoda.

My next stop was to be the Ryoan-ji temple and its famous Zen garden. This meant a hike of a few kilometres further north.

So here;’s the famous Zen (or dry garden).

You can sit yourself down on the wooden veranda and just contemplate. A bit hard to do with so many people but still very serene.