Kyoto: Keeping it old school

I checked into the Garaku Guest Inn, which gave me my own room with a choice of two beds for €24 a night. The staff were welcoming, rooms comfortable, and floors, spotless.

The living room even came equipped with three foot massaging machines – perfect after a long day of walking. Not to forget, they also had a lovely bathtub you could soak in to relax.

Nishiki Market has a rich history spanning back to 700 years ago where it sold fish! 

Then, it became an established marketplace 400 years ago which now sells all sorts of things such as ready-to-eat food, ingredients, clothes, souvenirs, and cookware.

My personal favourite, was of course the food!

I spent a good three hours roaming the shops getting little bites to eat. 

Sweet, savoury, soft, crunchy, you name it, they had it.

After eating myself silly, I got some souvenirs for the family which included little figurines representing the animal zodiac along with kimono haori (jackets) that can be worn in the summer! Photo to be included later. They were really reasonable for some reason and were only €15 each.

Before the sun set, I made my way to the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine with its neverending Torii gates. 

Each gate was painted a bright orange representing the colour of the sun. 

The pillars had names of companies written on them which symbolised that they had contributed financially to the upkeep of the shrine and probably brought good luck to their business.

As the shrine was a good walk up a mountain, 

delicious street food was available for purchase to power my journey up those stairs.

I googled meetup.com to see what was happening in the area and just happened to stumble across a meetup at Gojo Paradiso. I spent the night getting to meet random strangers from across the globe while sharing our experiences and playing Cards against Humanity (a great way to make friends). 

Also, that’s one of the Kimono haoris that I got!

First thing in the morning, I raced to the Izumo no Okuni statue to join the free walking tour.

Led by Mayu, she brought us around explaining the history and culture of Kyoto.

The weather was on our side thankfully!

Firstly, we went to the Gion area which is full of entertainment stages for geikos (geishas). The area also had the training schools for maikos (girls who were training to be geikos) and the tea houses in which they lived in.

Modern signposts even had to be made due to the amount of tourists walking in the area.

At Gion Corner, the maikos receive their training and also get to perform on the school’s stage on weekend nights. Tickets were reasonable for around 20-30 but unfortunately I wasn’t there on the weekend so I couldn’t get to see a performance.

Hear no evil. See no evil. Speak no evil.

The origins of it all.

Studio Ghibli shop

Giant Totoro

Salt saucers to ward off evil spirits.

Just before the cherry blossoms unfortunately.

Mayu was an amazing host and I absolutely recommend going on this walking tour as it was both engaging and informative about Kyoto.

Of course, by the end of the tour my stomach was rumbling.

This was quickly fixed by a delicious crispy tempura prawn with soba noodles!

Hopped on the bus to the beautiful Nijo Castle, which had a small entrance fee of ¥600 which is around €5.

The castle grounds were so beautiful to wonder, you could keep walking for hours.

Stepping into the hallways which was once filled with samurai and more was mind-blowing.

As I used to read manga and watch anime as a child, I knew I had to visit the Kyoto International Manga Museum.

There was exhibition of manga and the new modern techniques applied to it.

But amazingly there were three floors filled with manga which you could read to your heart’s content. They were also available in English! They provided a reading area equipped with bean bags, comfy slopes and pillows to lie on. Weirdly enough, I spent a good three hours there!

My tummy started to rumble and I knew I had to find somewhere to eat. I stumbled upon this ‘Ninja Restaurant’ and entered to inquire. A lady greeted me at the cashier surrounded by a museum of ninja items up for sale. 

When I told her I wanted a table, she called a ninja to come get me.

And so he did. He brought me into the underground labyrinth which led to my table. But first, I had to overcome obstacles such as pulling on a kunai (dagger) or doing ninjutsu.

Finally, I was brought to my own little cavern, complete with a scroll menu.

Certain items on the menu promised me a ninja surprise if I chose them, so I knew I had to atleast experience one of them.

I chose the first thing on the menu – the specialty.

“Ninja Chicken wing tips suddenly appear with Nishiki sesame and black Shichimi pepper flavour”

He appeared with a chicken egg on a platter, poured oil around it, set the platter ablaze, covered it with the lid, to reveal my chicken wings!

That was only a slight taster and not the full ninja experience I had. It was such a hilarious way to end my trip in Kyoto and I absolutely recommend it to everyone. The restaurant was filled with locals so it was obviously not just a tourist trap.

Unfortunately, I only had a short time in Kyoto and was not able to visit all the other famous temples scattered around the city. 

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful encounter with Japan – both Tokyo and Kyoto, and it definitely will not be my last.