Another day we took a ‘Byzantine’ slice through the city, checking out its Byzantine Walls and the Byzantine Museum. This was a fantatstic day.
The wall painting ensembles, mosaics and frescoes of Thessaloniki’s Byzantine churches and monasteries are among the great masterpieces of Early Christian art, recognised as World Heritage Paleochristian and Byzantine Monuments. This heritage stems from its strategic location, and its role as capital of the eastern Roman empire under Galerius. Thessaloniki morphed into being the ‘second city’ of the eastern empire (behind Constantinople) when east and west were permanently split by the Emperor Theodosius in 395 AD. Under Theodosius the city’s Byzantine Walls were commenced and the Roman Rotunda of Galerius was converted to a Christian Church and decorated with high quality mosaics.
We spent a day zigzagging between the ancient churches and monasteries, gradually climbing up to the old walls that sit high above the modern city.
On the way up we visited Agia Sofia (750 AD), Church of the Acheiropoietos (470), Agios Dimitrios (634), Latomou Monastery (Osios David, 490), and Vlatadon Monastery (14th C).
After a well-earned and delightful lunch behind the Byzantine Walls, we visited Agios Nikolaos Orfanes (14th C) on the way down to the Byzantine Museum.
Flew from Thessaloniki to Heraklion on a Monday evening then picked up a hire car and drove to Agios Nikolaos as our first stop. The internal flight worked really well as a way to transition from northern Greece to the start of our island phase.
We’d travelled to Western Crete in 2008 and wanted to focus on Central Crete this trip. Perhaps Eastern Crete next time? It’s a big island and quite culturally distinctive. We certainly didn’t regret making a second visit.
We took 11 days to do a circuit of Central Crete. Four nights in Agios Nikolaos then an overnight in Matala en route to Plakias on the south coast, with some fine ancient sites along the way. Three nights in Plakias then back to the north coast at Rethmyno (two nights) before finishing with an overnight in Heraklion.
In Agios Nikolaos we stayed in an apartment on Voulismeni Lake, fed by a small inlet off the Bay of Mirabello. The balcony was a lush spot for sundowners and for breakfast.
Spent our first morning on the town beach called Kytroplatia then headed off to visit Spinalonga Island in the afternoon. We drove to Plaka then caught a small boat to the island. There’s a Venetian fortress on the highest point, built on top of an ancient fortress from the Hellenistic period. The Venetians also built extensive walls around the edge of the island and it was used as a leper colony in the early 20th C. It’s all very atmospheric and we had a lovely time walking around the perimeter and exploring the ruins.
Next day we headed out to visit some sites nearby. First stop was the Dorian city of Lato with remains from 4-300 BC. Crete is mainly associated with Minoan civilisation so Lato is quite unusual. It’s a fabulous site in a remote mountain setting with views down to the coast. You enter through a main gate and walk up a walled main street with the remains of houses and shops on either side. It flattens out onto the central agora (public space) with a large cistern. Terraces lead up to a prytaneion (seat of government), temples and houses, with a theatre area further afield.
From here we headed to the town of Krista and the Church of Panagia Kera adorned with Byzantine frescoes in excellent condition.
Driving further east we visited the late Minoan settlement of Gournia. It’s ruins are draped over a hill quite close to the coast and it’s a pleasant place to wander along ancient streets and lanes.
Dropped down to the nearby village of Pacheia Ammos for a swim and excellent taverna lunch. Got into a hilarious converation with the lady running the restaurant when she found out we were from Tasmania. Turned out that she knows the Cretan Greeks we know in Hobart, who come from Ierapetra about 15 kms away. Small world.
The rest of the time in Agios Nikolaos was spent at the beach, eating and drinking and generally relaxing.
When checking out we were charged a Special Accommodation Tax (S.A.T.) of 50 Euro cents per night, two Euros in total. It was introduced to help combat the austerity measures forced on Greece. Hope it makes a positive difference overall, though I reckon it would have cost much more than two Euros to administer this particular transaction.
Crete is a wide island from east to west, narrow from north to south, and mountainous in the middle. Depending where you choose to cross, it doesn’t take long to get from the north to the south coast. We’d decided on Plakias as a base on the south coast but chose to break the journey from Agios Nikolaos with an overnight in Matala. This gave us time to visit the site of Gortyna and see Matala on the first day, then visit the sites of Phaestos and Agia Triada en route to Plakias on the second day.
We set off mid-morning and stopped at Myrtos for a swim and some lunch. Next stop was the site of Gortyna. It’s said that the site has been occupied since Neolithic times, standing on a plain watered by the river Lethaeus. At its peak it had a population of perhaps 100,000. We found it a strange site. Much of it is locked away, being restored, or on the other side of the highway which is currently no access. It’s most visible remains are the Basilica of St Titus and the huge stone tablets inscribed with the Codex of Gortyna. It felt like it could be an awesome site if fully excavated and protected.
Arrived in Matala on Friday evening to find it was the start of a three-day beach festival. The place was heaving, not at all what we’d expected. Matala is part of Greek mythology and was both a Minoan port and a Roman port. The Romans used its cliffside caves as tombs. In the 1960s the caves became a hippie hangout and Joni Mitchell made them famous through her song ‘Carey’ from the Blue album. Seems like it remains a ‘go to’ place. I heard the DJ winding up the crowd at 4:30am and think it was finally quiet at 6am. We sought out breakfast with the walking wounded and headed off as soon as we could. Not our finest moment of travel planning.
Phaestos was the second city of Minoan Crete, behind Knossos. It’s perhaps most famous for the Phaestos Disc (held in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum), an intruiging artefact dated to around 1,400 BC. The site sits atop a ridge separating the plains of Messara (inland ) and Debaki (coastal). We loved it and spent several hours exploring it in full.
Nearby Agia Triada is much smaller but also worth a visit. Many of the finds from this site are also in the Heraklion Museum, including a beautiful painted sarcophagus.
Drove on to Plakias that evening and settled in to our apartment for a few days. It was a short walk down to the beach with a nice cafe and a very decent restaurant, and a longer walk/ short drive to the town centre for all other amenities. The guy who owned the apartment left us eggs from his chickens and oil from his olive grove. All good. We did a boat trip to Preveli Beach on one of the days. It sits at the mouth of the Kissano Faraggi river, with a palm-lined gorge reaching back into the mountains. It is very popular but we had a fun day swimming, drying off, seeking shade, walking, eating and drinking. And seeing the coast and mountains from the boat, both going there and coming home, was spectacular.
Drove north to Rethmyno for a couple of nights. It has a long sandy beach lined with hotels and resorts that slice the coast into a series of sunbed concessions. We stayed in the old town and found walking around the Venetian fortress (fortezza) and wandering the backstreets and lanes to be more our style. The fortezza is huge and it’s a great place for a late afternoon/ early evening promenade. In one of the old buildings there was an exhibition by the artist Cryssoula Skepetzi. After some beach time on the second day we spent an afternoon wandering the old town. We also found an excellent restaurant that we ate at a couple of times.
Drove on to Heraklion next morning, dropped the hire car at the airport and headed into town. Our focus was the Archaeological Museum. It was being renovated when we first visited Crete in 2008, and though I’d seen the finished version on a work trip in 2015, Julie hadn’t. It’s a wonderful facility and we got a lot more out of it having visited not just Knossos but also Phaestos, Agia Triada and Gortyna. Ended the day with a fine seafood dinner on the waterfront. It’s always good to leave a place with the feeling that you’d like to come back. We’d definitely come back to Crete..
Caught a 9am ferry from Heralkion to Santorini (Thira). It’s a one and a three quarter hour journey under normal conditions, but there was a bit of a swell about and we got in 50 minutes late. Quite a lot of people on the ferry were sick along the way. I was OK (though had to stop reading and writing) and Julie has a cast iron stomach when it comes to being on the water.
Sailing into Santorini’s drowned caldera and seeing the clusters of white, geometric buildings clinging to the cliffs is a remarkable sight. Many people obviously think so and the place is completely overrun. I confess to having mixed feelings about it.
This visit we decided to stay at Perissa Beach on the eastern side of the island to avoid the hurly burly of the caldera. The hotel we stayed at will pick you up and drop you off for free if you stay at least three nights. It turned out to be a pretty chilled spot, with a decent black sand beach, good cafes and tavernas and easy access to ancient sites and other beaches.
Julie was happy to hit the beach for a while so I walked up to Ancient Thira, a lovely site sprawled over a hilltop (567m) at the northern end of Perissa Beach. You can drive up from the other side at Kamari Beach.
Next day we hired a small car and toured the southern part of the island. Visited the impressive site of Ancient Akrotiri which was buried in a volcanic eruption in 1613 BC. It’s now protected in a climate controlled building with wooden walkways criss-crossing the site. Take your time, let the pulses of bus tour groups blow past, and you’ll find it a very rewarding experience. Stopped at the village of Akrotiri and wandered around its backstreets and lanes. A lovely interlude. Drove on to the amazing looking Red Beach but it was super crowded so we headed down to the lighthouse at Cape Akrotiri and then found a decent taverna for lunch. Finished up the day with a swim and relax under the wind sculpted cliffs of Vlychada Beach.
On our last day we caught the bus up to Fira for a walk around the edge of the caldera. Back to Perissa Beach then off to the port to catch a 19:00 ferry to Milos, via Folegandros. It’s about a two hour journey.
We had the luxury of extra time on this trip, taking a six week holiday rather than the usual four. Decided to spend a full week on a Greek island and chose Milos in the Cyclades.
Most people would only know of Milos because of the famous statue in the Louvre in Paris, the Venus de Milo. In fact the island has very interesting geology which makes for amazing beaches (the most of any Greek island) and stunning coastline.
We rented an apartment right on the waterfront in the port town of Adamas. Took a boat trip, caught the bus to Pollonia, hired a car to explore the island, and wandered between Adamas and the hilltop twin towns of Plaka and Trypiti. All in all we found Milos to be an ideal island for a chillout week.
We’re not sailors but we like it on the water, so boat trips are something we always seek out. If you’re in a place for a few days it’s generally good to check out the local offerings at the port, see the boats, the crew, who’s getting on and off.
We did a great, day-long boat trip out of Adamas along the west coast of Milos, as far as Kleftiko and back. This part of the island is largely inaccessible due to poor roads, and prevalence of the Milos viper. There were maybe twenty passengers on the boat and the crew had a dinghy to ferry us into caves and swimming spots. Great fun.
We chose to stay at the port to be close to amenities. Just 5km uphill is the gorgeous little town of Plaka, which morphs into the equally lovely Trypiti as you descend. We bussed/ walked up and back a few times, for wandering and eating at the excellent tavernas. We had a great time on Milos. In hindsight, if we’d have changed anything it would be to reverse this order i.e. stay in Plaka/ Trypiti and head down to Adamas for amenity.
For a change of scenery one day, we caught the bus to Pollonia which lies at the north east tip of Milos. It’s quite a chic little place and we spent a pleasant day moving from beach to taverna and back again.
Milos has about 45 beaches so we hired a car one day to check out some of the most iconic ones.
Drove to Paleochori on the south coast which has beautiful coloured cliffs and thermal activity. In places the sand is way too hot to stand in, and in spots the water is also warmed. This is probably great in the cooler months but no more than a curiousity in summer.
Drove further west to Provatos Bay where we ate in a nice taverna overlooking the ocean and had a swim after lunch.
Headed back to the north coast of the island to Sarakininiko, perhaps the most iconic of all Milos beaches. You swim in an inlet carved out of gleaming white rock, backed with a valley created by seasonal water flows. Mine tunnels have been excavated deep into the surrounding cliffs. All in all it’s a surreally beautiful landscape.
From here we timed our run to visit the Christian catacombs carved in soft rock just below Plaka.
Drove on to Mandrakia which is another beautiful little coastal village.
Finished the day at Fyropotamos where white buildings with blue trim draped the rocky coastline, and chilled beats oozed from the beach bar as we enjoyed an end of day swim. Nothing more to say.
We caught an 11am ferry from Milos arriving in Piraeus about 14:30. Headed to our hotel in Athens city. We were staying in the Makrygianni district, just south of the Acropolis. It has good restaurants, cafes, bars and bakeries, some happily filling more than one role to keep the cash flow positive.
When we arrived it was a lovely afternoon so we walked up to the Acropolis then down to the Ancient Agora. It felt great to be back in Athens again. Wandering around the Temple of Hephastus in the golden light of a summer evening is a delightful experience. It makes you appreciate the efforts made to preserve cultural World Heritage.
Next morning we headed to the National Archaeological Museum for a day. We hadn’t been here since our first trip to Greece in 2006. In three subsequent trips we’d been to many of the places associated with artefacts in the museum and thought it was time to revisit. It was a fabulous experience. As hoped, the fact that we’d now been to so many of the places referenced in the exhibits provided depth and resonance to what we were looking at on the floors and walls and in the glass cases.
We always visit the Temple of Olympian Zeus when in Athens. It defines the word ‘monumental’. We then walked what’s known as ‘the triangle’ in Athens city, defined by the three squares of Syntagma, Omonia and Monastiraki. We’d read that this was an epicentre for rebounding from austerity and it felt like it on the ground. There was a gritty, can-do energy about the place. Visited Hadrian’s Library before it closed at 15:00. It was very hot by then so we retreated to the hotel for a while before an evening visit to the Acropolis. It was glorious, and we ended up being kicked out of the Theatre of Dionysos at 20:00 closing time.
Next day we took it pretty easy, sourcing presents for family and friends from shops at the Acropolis Museum and Benaki Museum. On our last night of the trip we had a great dinner on a rooftop terrace looking up at the Acropolis. Only in Greece.
On our last day we visited the Acropolis Museum then checked out the Temple of the Winds. Headed out to the airport around 20:00 for a 23:00 flight home.
We left home in Hobart early on a Saturday morning and landed in Tokyo (Narita) at 7 pm that evening. Caught the train into the city. We’d booked a hotel on the edge of Ueno Park so as to get full exposure to the cherry blossom festival and it turned out to be a great location. This was our first experience of a Japanese hotel and we did find the room to be very small.
Our first day was Sunday 2nd April and through a mix of good planning and good luck this turned out to be peak blossom day in Tokyo. The first cherry blossoms happen in the subtropical southern islands of Okinawa then bloom further and further north all the way to Hokkaido over a matter of weeks. The cherry blossom ‘front’ is forecast each year and early April for Tokyo turned out to be spot on in 2017.
We stepped out of the hotel and straight into Ueno Park where we immersed ourselves in hanami. The cherry blossom was beautiful but we quickly realised it was the cultural interaction with this natural event that is most interesting. The park was crowded but everyone was in good spirts. Blue tarps were being laid out in pre-booked spaces under the blossom trees, and makeshift tables made from cardboard boxes groaned under the weight of food and drinks. There was an amazing array of food stalls and we ate very happily from these for much of the week.
Inside the park is the Ueno Toshugo Shrine dedicated to the shogun Tokugawa Ieysau. It dates from 1651 and is one of the few early-Edo period structures that has survived in Tokyo.
When the crowds got a bit much we wandered to the northern boundary of the park then around the edge of the National Museum to the Kan’ei-ji Temple and its cemetery. Once a great complex, there’s not a lot left of Kan’ei-ji after it was razed in 1868 by revolutionary forces.
Later in the day we stretched our legs with a long walk through the Akihabara district, famous for its electronics retailers, then on to the parkland around the Imperial Palace. A great first day.
Next day we took to wandering the streets of Tokyo without any major sites in mind, hoping to get a feel for the city.
Ueno Park has a lake called Shinobazuno Pond and it was still and reflective as we headed off.
Yushima-ten Mangu Shrine was established in 458 though the current buildings were reconstructed in 1955 and are surrounded by concrete and high rise. It is dedicated to Michizane Sugawara, a 9th C scholar, and prospective University students hoping to pass entrance exams come here to make offerings. The site is near the University of Tokyo main campus.
We wandered on past the Tokyo Dome and Korakuen Amusement Park. The rides looked great, from a distance…
We found our way to Kagurazaka. During the Edo Period it lay just outside the outer moat of Edo Castle and gained prominence as an entertainment district with geisha houses and restaurants. We walked up the sloping Waseda-dori Avenue stopping at Zenkoku-ji temple and later at Akagi-jinja shrine. Akagi-jinja was rebuilt in 2010 by the architect Kengo Kuma. They were filming an episode of Master Chef when we visited, complete with Matt Preston in cravat, waffling on. We’ve never watched this show, and nothing we saw that day made us think we’d been missing out.
The weather became stormy at this point so we hopped on a train back to the hotel. Later we headed into Ueno Park for dinner which was great fun.
The National Museum was only a short walk from our hotel so it was the first stop next morning. We strolled through Ueno Park checking out bored teenagers reserving spaces for family and friends, and took the mandatory selfie under a blossom tree.
The Tokyo National Museum is Japan’s largest and has four main galleries. We spent several hours exploing the Japanese gallery (Honkan), Japanese archaeology gallery (Heiseikan), Asian gallery (Toyokan) and the Gallery of Horyuji Treasures (Buddhist artwork from Kyoto). Only a selection of the full collection is on show at any point in time which we really liked. It wasn’t overwhelming, felt spacious, and the exhibits were well explained in English. The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures is a modern building completed in 1999 and designed by the architect Yoshio Taniguchi. The grounds of the museum are also lovely, including the Kuromon (Black Gate) dating from the late 18th C. One thing we found striking was how much the terracotta funerary monuments called Haniwa from the Kofun period (300-700) looked like those of the Minoans from Ancient Greece.
In the afternoon we walked to the Kappabashi district known as ‘kitchen town’ for its concentration of shops catering to the restaurant trade.
From there we walked on to the Asakusa district which was lots of fun. We cruised along the Nakamise Shopping Street where dressing up in kimonos was clearly a thing. Later in the evening we went back to Ueno Park to eat off the food stalls, rounding out a great day in Tokyo.
Another day we caught the Yamanote Line to Shinjuku for a bit of camera shopping and a Japanese department store experience. There’s some interesting modern architecture in this area. The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower was designed by Tange Associates, the architectural firm founded by the late Kenzo Tange. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was designed by Tange himself and completed in 1990.
Part way through this day I became a bit obsessed with Tokyo’s taxis. I loved the distinctive colour combinations adopted by the different companies, and have put together a gallery called Taxis of Tokyo.
After lunch we walked south to visit the Meiji Jingu shrine dedicated to the Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. There was a wedding underway. The Shrine and adjacent Yoyogi Park make up a large forested area within the city which provides some pleasant respite from the hustle and bustle.
The weather was indifferent so we opted to head indoors and visit the Ota Museum of Art. This museum features a rotating exhibition of ukiyo-e (woodblock) prints from a 12,000 print collection amassed by the late Seizō Ota.
From there we took a look at the Yoyogi Stadium, a famous Kenzo Tange design for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
At the end of the day we checked out Shibuya crossing, awash in neon lights, before hopping on the Yamanote Line and circling back to our hotel.
Next day we caught the metro to Ginza and wandered the streets with an eye out for iconic architecture.
Started at Yonchome Intersection with the art-deco Wako Store and clock tower on one corner, and the ultra-modern Ginza Place (Nissan and Sony showroom) diagonally opposite. Walked down Harumi-dori Avenue past the striking PIAS Building to see the old Kabuki Theatre. It’s dramatically backed by the Kabukiza Tower, which created interesting reflections on the curved facade of the building opposite. A koban is a small neighbourhood police station and the Ginza Koban stood out as an interesting structure. Stepped indoors for a while to visit the Ginza Leica store which had a gallery showing photographic exhibitions, including photos of Antarctica by Herbert Ponting from Scott’s Terra Nova expedition. We then went to see two pieces of iconic Tokyo architecture. The Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Centre is an amazing building by Kenzo Tange. Built in 1967, it was his first realisation of Metabolism which fuses ideas about architectural structures with those of organic biological growth. Not far away is the Nakagin Capsule Tower built by Kisho Kurokawa who was one of Tange’s students. Sadly it was in a state of disrepair when we visited, with netting draped over the building to protect passers-by from falling debris.
Next stop was the old Tsukiji fish market (now moved) where we had a great sushi lunch.
After lunch we visited Hama-rikyu Gardens on the edge of the bay. The serenity of the gardens was magnified by the backdrop of skyscrapers.
From there we jumped on a boat and cruised up the Sumida River. It’s always interesting to view a port city from the water. We could see the Tokyo tidal barrage and the Fuji Sankei Building (another Kenzo Tange) across the bay. Not all of the architecture we saw was pleasing to our eyes, and the Asahi Building by Philippe Starck looked a bit…um…flashy.
Hopped off the boat at Asakusa. We’d enjoyed it there earlier in the week and again had fun in the shopping streets, walking through Kaminarimon Gate and visiting Senso-ji Temple. It’s Tokyo’s oldest temple and is very lively and colourful.
This was another great day in the fabulous city of Tokyo.
On our last day in Tokyo we had a few practicalities to attend to in the morning. In between errands we visited the nearby Jyomyo-In Temple which has thousands of Jizo statues (guardian saint of children), then checked out another section of what’s left of the Kan’ei-ji Temple complex.
At lunch time we headed into Ueno Park for one last feast from the food stalls. Being able to eat so well and so cheaply from the stalls was an unexpected pleasure of our stay in Tokyo.
I’d developed a bit of a thing for Kenzo Tange’s architecture by this stage so we caught a cab to Sekiguchi to see his gorgeous St Mary’s Cathedral. It’s a remarkable building that is clad in steel and manages to look both angular and curvaceous. (I subsequently put together a gallery of all his buildings we saw in Tokyo, Hiroshima and Yokohama – see here.)
Finding our way back to the hotel we sought out a blossom-lined section of the Kanda River for one last taste of hanami in Tokyo.
On our first real Japan Rail journey we caught the Shinkansen from Tokyo to Toyama, then the Limited Express to Takayama.
Checked into our ryokan with a room overlooking the river. We had a walk around Takayama to get our bearings, then donned yakuta, bathed, and were fed dinner in our room. What a lovely experience. Fortunately, there was more of this to come on the trip.
Next morning we visited the Yoshijima Heritage House which is a beautifully intact Edo-period merchant building. We wandered on through the Miyagawa market then visited Takayama Jinya (prefecture office built in 1615), and Hida Kokubunji Temple.
With a great soba noodle lunch on board we spent the afternoon wandering the old streets and walking the temples around the perimeter of the town. Spent the evening bathing and eating.
Our two nights in Takayama were simply delightful.
Caught the train from Takayama to Kyoto, via Nagoya. Settled in to our townhouse (called a machiya) conveniently located just south of the main station. It was great to have some space to spread out and be in Japanese style accommodation. Learning to respect the tatami mats, wear toilet shoes, fold up the futon every day.
First evening we had dinner in Pontocho on the west bank of the Kama-gawa river. It was resplendent in blossom, beautifully lit.
Kyoto was the imperial capital of Japan from 794 until 1868. It has a bewildering array of World Heritage monuments. There are 13 temples, three shrines, and one castle. These 17 sites have a total 198 buildings and 12 gardens. So there’s plenty to see.
If you’re prepared to take the time, Kyoto is best approached in five districts. We spent our first and last days in the Central district, north then south of the central station. We spent an amazing day in the Eastern district of Higashiyama, a day visiting the Western district of Arashiyama, and a day visiting the famous temples of the Northern district. Even though we spent a week in Kyoto we didn’t have enough time to visit the Southern district. We also spent a day in Nara which was the first permanent capital of Japan. It probably deserves a week in itself.
If you have the chance to visit Kyoto (and Nara), go for as long as you can. It will be worth it.
The first day was very wet so we explored areas close to our townhouse.
Higashi Honganji is headquarters of the Jodo-Shinshu (True Pure Land) sect of Buddhism. Originally built in 1602 it’s a massive complex. It was rebuilt in 1859 after a series of fires. The main hall (Goeido) is Kyoto’s largest wooden structure and the adjacent Amidado Hall is almost as large.
Next stop was Sanjusengeu-do, a long narrow building which houses 1,001 human-sized statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. The effect is pretty amazing. In typical Japanese fashion, the site also has a Shinto shrine. We enjoyed sheltering from the rain under covered walkways painted in vermillion, looking out over the shrine and gardens.
From there it was a short walk north to the geisha district of Gion, and the beautiful blossom-lined street of Shimbashi. It was fun to watch young Japanese people dressing up for hanami.
The main sites of the Higashiyama district in eastern Kyoto sit within a fairly narrow strip between the east bank of the Kama-gawa river and the surrounding hills. We took a metro then taxi to the northern end of Higashiyama and spent the day walking south, back towards our townhouse.
First stop was Ginkaku-ji Temple, the ‘Silver Pavillion’. In 1482, shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built his retirement villa here, modeling it on his grandfather’s retirement villa in northern Kyoto called Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. Unlike the golden-gilded Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji was never gilded in silver. It was converted into a Zen temple after Yoshimasa’s death and has a beautiful moss garden and a unique dry sand garden.
A charming feature of Higashiyama is the Philosopher’s Walk, a 2-km-long path named after the philosophy professor Kitarō Nishida. It provides a pleasant link between sites. During hanami it is lined in blossom and punctuated by photo shoots and food stalls.
Honen-in is a small, peaceful temple with beautiful gardens.
Nanzen-ji is an important Zen temple of the Rinzai sect. It has a massive Sanmon (main gate) and you can climb up to the balcony providing excellent views across the temple complex. The Hojo (main hall) has lovely interiors and surrounding gardens.
Chion-in is head temple of the Jodo sect of Japanese Buddhism, with spacious grounds and large buildings. The Sanmon Gate is the largest wooden gate in Japan and dates back to the early 1600s.
Walking via the peaceful park of Marugana-Koen, our next stop was Kodai-ji Temple built in 1606 in memory of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a famous politician of the 16th C. It now belongs to the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism. There are gorgeous rock and gravel gardens and a bamboo grove.
From here you can see the 24-metre concrete image of Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) at the adjacent Ryozen Kannon Temple, a war memorial built in 1955 to honour both Japanese and Allied soldiers killed in World War II.
Yasaka Pagoda is a visible landmark in this area. It’s all that is left of Hokanji Temple which was founded in the 6th C.
Last stop for the day was Kiyomizu-dera, the ‘Pure Water Temple’. It has a colourful main gate and pagoda, and is famous for the wooden stage that juts out from the main hall affording fabulous views of the wooded hills east of Kyoto.
What a day.
Next day we caught the train to the Arashiyama district in western Kyoto. Took it quite a bit slower after a big day yesterday.
Tenryu-ji is the most important temple in this district. It’s ranked first amongst Kyoto’s five great Zen temples and was founded in 1339 by the ruling shogun Ashikaga Takauji. Fires and wars destroyed the original buildings and those you see today were built in the 19th C. The original gardens survived however, and are sublime. They were created by the famous garden designer Muso Soseki. We had an excellent Zen buddhist lunch in the temple restaurant.
Another highlight in Arashiyama is the Bamboo Grove. It’s one of the most photographed sights in Kyoto but the images can’t really convey the otherworldly feeling of being in a forest that sways with the wind.
We decided to head back into central Kyoto and visit Nijo Castle. It was built in 1603 as the Kyoto residence of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo Period. It’s surrounded by stone walls and moats. Inside it’s divided into the Honmaru (main circle of defense), the Ninomaru (secondary circle of defense) and the gardens. The palace buildings are arguably the best surviving examples of castle palace architecture from Japan’s feudal era, and the beautiful gardens were designed by Kobori Enshu.
The northern district of Kyoto is very rich in temples. We decided to select a couple of sites to visit rather than running ourselves ragged trying to see them all. It worked well for us.
The ‘Golden Pavillion’ of Kinkaku-ji is one of the top sites in Kyoto. The crowded #205 bus from the main station was a sign of things to come. It was packed as we entered the site and people jostled for position to get their ‘shot’. We took our time wandering through the beautiful gardens and as the crowds spread out it became very enjoyable. Kinkau-ji was originally built in 1397 as the retirement villa of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, and became a Zen temple of the Rinzai sect after his death in 1408. Only the Golden Pavillion survived numerous fires and wars. Then in 1950 a young monk named Hayashi Yoken burnt it to the ground. The author Yukio Mishima wrote a novel called The Temple of the Golden Pavillion which is loosely based on this story. The Golden Pavillion you see today was built in 1955.
We then visited Daitoku-ji, a large, walled complex dedicated to Zen buddhism. There are 24 sub-temples of which eight are open to the public. We managed to see five of these.
Oubai-in dates back to 1562 when a small temple was built by the feudal warlord Oda Nobunaga in honour of his father. It has beautiful moss gardens and maple trees.
Ryogen-in was constructed in 1502 and the temple’s main building is said to be the oldest standing in Daitokuji. It features five different dry landscape gardens. The largest has a field of raked white gravel representing the universe, and islands of rocks and moss representing a crane and a turtle, symbols of longevity and health. The temple also displays sliding doors (fusuma) painted with images of dragons and hermits.
Daitoku-ji is a working temple and it was interesting to watch it going about its business. Monks bustled along the pathways and main structures like the Butsuden (main hall) could be admired from a distance.
Kohrin-in was built as a family temple in 1520. It has a lovely dry garden which was being tended when we visited.
Daisen-in is the most celebrated sub-temple of Daitoku-ji, founded in 1509. It preserves important architecture and has beautiful gardens. Photography is forbidden.
Our last stop was Koto-in, built in 1601. It is famous for its bamboo-lined approach and its maple trees.
We took a day trip to Nara.
It was established as Japan’s first permanent capital in 710. Over the next 75 years, the influence and ambitions of the Nara’s powerful Buddhist monasteries became a threat to the government, and it was decided to move the capital first to Nagaoka-kyo (in 784) then Kyoto (in 794).
Although brief, Nara’s time as the capital left a rich legacy. Losing that mantle meant it was spared much of the war damage subsequently wrought on Kyoto. As a result it has an impressive set of World Heritage monuments with eight sites encompassing 78 buildings.
It was crowded as we walked from the station towards Nara-koen, the park that houses the main sites, with Nara’s ‘wild’ deer adding further excitement. The grand temple of Todai-ji was our first stop. Its Daibutsu-den (Great Buddha Hall) is the largest wooden building in the world and the Buddha it houses is one of the largest bronze cast statues ever made. Once inside the hall the tourist hubbub died down and we could start to take in what we were seeing. It was a remarkable experience.
Walking east from the Great Buddha Hall towards Mount Wakakusa, a lovely covered staircase led us to Nigatsu-do Hall. It’s a sub-temple of Todai-ji and has a broad terrace with lots of interesting detail. Sangatsu-do Hall is next door.
From here we contoured around the foothills of Mount Wakakusa looking down on Nara-koen. Next stop was Tamukeyama Hachiman, a small Shinto shrine established in 749.
The path led us on to Kasuga Taisha which is Nara’s most celebrated Shinto shrine. It was buzzing with life. Priests and attendents bustled to and fro, and there was a wedding underway. There were lanterns everywhere and gorgeous colours. Kasuga Taisha was the highlight of our day.
The path skirted the edge of the Kasugayama primeval forest where logging and hunting have been prohibited since 841. It led to Wakamiya-jinja, a small subsidiary shrine of Kasuga Taisha. From there we descended down a path to the centre of town.
Kofu-ji is a temple transferred from Kyoto in 710. It has two pagodas, one five-tiered (second tallest in Japan) and one three-tiered.
We left Nara tired and happy, and keen to come back for a longer visit if we ever have the opportunity.
On our last day we explored the southern part of central Kyoto, south of the train station.
To-ji means “East Temple” and it was founded in the late 700s just after the capital moved to Kyoto. Along with the now defunct Sai-ji (“West Temple”) it guarded the south entrance to the city. It grew to prominence under Kobo Daishi, founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, who we learnt about at our next stop in Koya-san. The five-tiered wooden pagoda is the tallest in Japan (at 57 metres) and the spacious site has some beautiful halls. Most of the buildings seen today were rebuilt in the 17th C after many fires and wars. To-ji was a great place for a morning wander.
We caught the train a little further south to Inari, to vist the Fushima Inari Taisha (shrine). It’s one of the top sights in Kyoto, famous for its thousands of vermillion coloured torii that straddle paths through the woodlands around Mount Inari (233 metres). Inari is the Shinto god of rice and Fushima is the most important of all Inari shrines. Once we got through the initial crush of people wanting their ‘shot’ of the torii we found it to be a lovely shrine. The crowds thinned out as we walked further along the paths and there were many interesting buildings beautifully painted, and heaps of fox Komainu. Normally the shrines are guarded by statues of dogs or lions but Inari shrines are guarded by foxes as they are thought to be the god’s messengers. Shrines often have food stalls (at least at this time of year) and we feasted on octopus balls (takoyaki) and omelette (okonomiyaki). It was a great end to our stay in Kyoto.
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