We Wander… We Wonder!!

We are back in Kyoto!

The first time we went was in July of 2022. That was the peak of summer, border is still closed. Everyone recommended to see Kyoto before tourism explode. So we did. But summer in Kyoto, in July, is uncomfortably hot. And this is coming from us who had lived in Phoenix summers for almost all of our life.

This time was different though. We had a full week, it was Fall Season. And we fell in love with Kyoto in the fall! Kyoto has given us the experience of a lifetime.

After staying in both western style hotels and traditional Ryokans, our family had decided we like the traditional accommodations better. Not only is it is better for a family like us, it has its charm, and warmth of a house. We stayed and rented a one-bedroom traditional apartment, by the Gion Area. We wanted to be in the historic, old town district. It was a good choice as there are so many to see just by walking around. We got to go around the area our first night and we cannot wait to see it in bright light.

Our first adventure is the popular, highly talked about Fushimi Inari Shine. Fushimi Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社, Fushimi Inari Taisha) is an important Shinto shrine in southern Kyoto. It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari, which stands at 233 meters and belongs to the shrine grounds. (see details here). Our family did hike the trail and enjoyed the thousand Torii Gates. The shrine on top of the Mount Inari can’t be expressed in words nor photos. You have to see it for yourself.

There are many shrines as you walk up the mountain. It’s a lot of climbing, but there are convenience store stops along the way, and the views are magnificent. Thank goodness for the good weather 🙂

In these Shrines, there are ways to pass along your prayer, they even have laminated papers to illustrate messages of hope, love, good health, wealth. We prayed and send our prayers as well.

The Torii Gates are a site to be seen, bright red along the path, a guidepost to guide from the foot of the mountain up to the top.

After a full hike, we treat ourselves for some ramen and icecream

Fall Colors in full bloom!

My children needed a break from visiting shrines and temples. Very close to Kyoto is Nara. It is known for having free roaming deer that you may feed. According to legends, these deers are messengers to god. And oh we have sent so many deers to send our message 🙂

We could have stayed more than a day in Nara Park. So much to see! The park itself is so big to be explored on foot, we walked and walked and walked. There are so many shrines, temples, gardens to explore. Definitely worth visiting for next time.

At the end of Day 2 in Nara Park, we squeezed in one more Temple, the magnificent Todaiji Temple. The grounds are beautiful especially with the sunset in the background and fall colors surrounding the gardens. We didn’t have time to explore temple as it is about to close. Another reason to go back 🙂

On our 3rd day, my children have told me they have reached the max limit of temples on the 2 days we were exploring Kyoto. So on this day, we explored our neighborhood, Gion. The town is lined with wooden Machiya Merchant Houses. It is known for tea ceremonies, tiny pebble streets, Geisha’s heading to tea ceremonies, there are just so much to see in such a small area. And because the streets are so small, and there are so many tourists, it really gets crowded. We made a deal, I go checkout the temple myself while the boys wait outside 😀 they are in charge of looking for the next best place to have snack. They always find a good one, just like the one photo where we’re having some sweet bread in this magical lantern lined area. Check and see if you notice the Starbucks in this slideshow. It’s the coolest Starbucks thus far 😉

Hope you enjoy Fall in Kyoto.

More from your family soon! 🙂