Kyoto

Kyoto is famous of it's Buddhist temples Kiyomizu-dera (temple of the pure water), Kinkaku-ji (Golden pavilion) Ginkaku-ji (Silver pavilion) and Nanzen-ji. From Shintoist temples, most famous is Jingu, built in 1895 for imperial family.

Kyoto can be reached within two and half hour by shinkansen from Tokyo. Kyoto offers it's visitor a vast number of fantastic shrines, temples, carps and palaces. Kyoto is often crowded with tourists. As Florence in Italy - Kyoto has also beautiful buildings that look especially great in afternoon sun.

Indeed, Kyoto is still a cradle of a traditional Japanese culture. Yasunari Kawabata wrote a book called Kyoto, giving his admiration to the beauty of the city. There is also a famous hanamachi (geisha town) in Kyoto called Gion which is famous of being a last place on earth you can see an actual geisha.

The traditional buildings are preserved in Kyoto, and it is not allowed to build scyscrapers here. This is one of the

points that makes Kyoto so appealing, since almost all big cities in Japan have very high profile.

Throughout the times, Kyoto's people have suffered earthquakes, bombings, fires and had to work hard to rebuild the town only to see a new devastation. Still the original infrastructure is well maintained. Most of the famous sites are carefully made replicas.

One of its most wonderful resources are the nature of Kyoto. Lots of pinetrees, sakura and parks make it ever so refreshing. If you'll see a river in Kyoto - it's most certainly crowded with koi, japanese carps.

Some interesting places to see in Kyoto: Tenryu-ji Temple, Matsuo Taisha Shrine, Moss Temple garden, Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Gion, Ohara mountain town, Rengei-ji Temple, Shisendo, Okochi Sanso, Daitoku-ji Zen Monastery, Nijo Castle, Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Pavilion), Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), Jodo temple and Nanzen-ji.

In case your visit in Japan will be only Kyoto I recommend using the Kansai International Airport.

Kyoto hosts also several festivals such as the Aoi Matsuri.

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