This week's blog will be about my trip to Kyoto and Nara! For more pictures check out my travel Instagram @grace.straughn.travel
On our first day, Monday, we went to many amazing places! Besides our planned locations, we also went to so many shrines because on every street you turn onto there is a shrine so they are everywhere! So apologies in advance if I can't name everyone we went to. Our first location of the day was Kamimaezu, but on the way stopped at many shrines and shops. There were so many cute shops with Kyoto souvenirs. Kamimaezu was so beautiful with so many buildings with stunning architecture and color. Because we went during the winter time the number of tourists was minimal which was very nice. And as soon we left the main tourist attraction area, the number of people grew so small that it was very peaceful.
We then went to Fushimi-Inari Shrine, the place with many shrine gates. It was a very beautiful area and if you climbed up some way you had a very good view of Kyoto. It was a lot of stairs but it was worth it 😅💪 Also, spoiler alert, but the gates aren't red, they're orange. I know, it was a shocker for me too haha. We were up in the mountain a bit so the nature was very pretty and I even saw a wild cat. Not really wild, but a stray cat being fed by the shop owners but it was very cute 🐱
Lastly, we went to Gion, a shopping district full of older buildings and various shops. It was very cool and we also so lots of women wearing kimonos that were very pretty. It was very easy to spend too much money there!
On the second day, we went to spots that were a bit further away from where we were staying. We went to Kinkaku-ji, Arashiyama, and an onsen. Kinkaku-ji is a temple covered in gold so it is very pretty. The surrounding area is full of nature as well so the scenery was very nice.
Arashiyama is where the bamboo forest is. I was really looking forward to going to the bamboo forest because I have seen lots of pictures of it and haven't really seen much bamboo in my life so it was really awesome. The bamboo was really tall and there was so much of it! It still baffles me that there is a hollow stick that can grow as a tree. I think it's funny that you can knock on a tree and it have a hollow sound.
After that, we went to an onsen. It was a nice small onsen that was really helpful in healing my aching feet from all the walking I had done the past couple of days.
On Wednesday, we went to Nara, the city famous for deer. We went to Todai-ji, Kofuku-ji, and Nara Park, as well as many other smaller shrines. Just like in Kyoto, all of the shrines were so pretty! Learning about the history and seeing ancient artifacts from the shrines was so fascinating. I learned that many shrines have been burnt down and rebuilt numerous times. Of course, seeing all the deer was really unique too. I did discover though that they aren't the nicest of deers 😂 They can be quite aggressive when you have the food they want haha. I didn't feed them because of that reason but they did attack my friends though!
On the last day, I met up with my friend from high school who was an exchange student for a year from Japan. I hadn't seen her for almost 5 years so it was really nice to see her. Together with my friends, we went to the Imperial Palace and Nishiki, another shopping district haha. The Imperial Palace was so big and spacious and very peaceful. Since it is winter, there was hardly anyone there so it was very peaceful. Even though it is winter, the trees and bushes were still green so it was still very pretty. I'm sure it is stunning in the spring but I am glad I avoided the people 😅After, we went to lunch at a very cute cafe.
We then went to various shrines we randomly found and then headed to Nishiki and Kawarumachi. Nishiki had so many street food stands that all looked sooo delicious! Unfortunately, I only ate at some of them 😢 but those were still delicious. I had squid on a stick, crab broiled, taiyaki (a filled pastry of sorts), and ice cream with honey and honeycomb! It was all sooo gooood! 😋 We then shopped around and found lots of wonderful shops. It was also funny because you would be walking around the shops and all of a sudden, a shrine would appear 😂
Lastly, we rode the shinkansen (bullet train) back to Nagoya and I got a good night's sleep.
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