En route to Nara, we stopped at Tofuku-ji and then walked on to the Fushimi Inari Shrine. Tofuku had a rather impressive rock garden, much better than Ryoan-ji the day before and far less crowded. The Inari Shrine was a bit of a nightmare, the crowds of selfie sticks and people stopping every second made it a bit frustrating. There is quite an impressive food market leading up to it however where we enjoyed a slab of bbq'd bacon. We decided against walking the whole trail and just dashed around the first section, the tori gates lined up as they really hem you in so once you are in there (and walking at snail pace behind buggies, selfie sticks et al), you are in it for the long haul.
It's surprising how little time we have spent at the 'can't be missed' tourist attractions. They are often too full to enjoy and there are so many quieter delights if you're willing to put the effort in. We opted for a day trip from Kyoto rather than staying there and we are glad we did as although it's fun to see the tame deer wandering around, there isn't much else of note apart from the Todai-ji which is reputed to be the world's largest wooden structure - to be fair it is quite impressive. The deer are so tame and used to humans that they have learnt to bow before receiving the crackers the park sell everywhere. It made for much amusement as we tried to capture it on video. Our next form of self entertainment was the quest for the perfect deer selfie. We didn't do too badly... Comments are closed.
|
AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
All photos copyright ©
Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |