Kyoto is a city in the central part of the island of Honshu Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area. (Thanks to Wikipedia again).

As Kyoto has so many things to see and do, we decided to get there early to make the most of our day there. Unfortunately we caught changed trains onto the wrong line (how easy is it to do this in Japan?!) and ended up closer to Nara than Kyoto. By the time we got to Kyoto it was almost midday.

Kyoto has a HUGE station, just look at the first couple of pictures! The temples as always are very interesting and gave plenty of opportunities for some nice shots.

Getting around within the Kyoto area meant catching buses.. the buses were always packed full of people and were a squeeze to get on and off of.

Late in the afternoon we went to the Pontocho area… this place is really cool! I really like how narrow alleyways are filled with trendy restaurants for the whole strip.. really spoilt for choice here!

We even managed to see a few Geisha walking down the streets at Pontocho.. I don’t think they like their picture being taken.

We finished off the evening by having dinner and then catching the train home.. 

Picture set below:

On one of the days we caught the train out to Kobe.

To be honest, Kobe wasn’t what we expected it to be, and there wasn’t that much to see and do (perhaps we just didn’t know where to go). As a result we only spent a few hours there.

On one side of Kobe station is a smallish shopping complex. Walking out to the other side we managed to find a temple, and were lucky enough to see a Japanese couple having a wedding ceremony there!

After walking around the temple we had lunch and headed back to Osaka. Tuna Toro and Kani Miso sushi… yum!

Well I thought I’d post the pics from Nara first as there weren’t that many…

Wikipedia says that “Nara lies in the north end of Nara Prefecture, directly bordering itself to Kyoto Prefecture in its north side. The city is 22.22 km from North to South, and 33.51 km from East to West.”

Thanks Wikipedia!

Anyway.. I really enjoyed this leg of the trip… there were plenty of old shops lining the streets from Nara station up to the region where the temples were.

Seeing the temples were like taking a step back in time.. its quite an experience!

Deer are everywhere in Nara! They are pretty tame, but once you have some deer biscuits in your hand (can be purchased for 150yen), they go absolutely crazy! even chasing you down!

While walking Nara, make sure you keep your maps close to you.. the deer will eat those too!

Picture set below.. stay tuned.. more pictures to come shortly..