After five months traveling around “alone”, finally I’ve been with somebody I know and at the same time he knows me, Ivan Diaz.
I have taken his lovely apartment next to the Kyoto University and one bike for more than a week!!!
The first day Ivan took me biking around the more important parts of Kyoto... We started with the temples and Shrine by the Path of Philosophy, and then visiting Heian-jingú (free because National day! Normally 600 yens) with a group of English students being our guides, having a fast look at the geisha street where we end at Kennin-Ji Temple, the oldest Zen Temple in Kyoto with a brilliant exhibition of Tawaraya Sotasu (free because who was selling the tickets knew Ivan from the university!! Normally 500 yens). We eat Ramen and went around the Imperial Palace Park...
After a full day of relax, I take the bike and go to visit Fushimi-Inari Taisha in the other side of Kyoto. A fantastic group of Shrines around the entire mountain and connected by a path covered by a red wood doors. The total distance is 4 kilometers!
Other day I visit The Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-Ji) and Kitano Tenman-Gu Temple. At the afternoon I meet Ivan and a friend of him (Emi) to prepare Bread with tomato and Jamon Iberico before we go to a traditional Japanese concert: Takigi-Noh – Bonfire Noh Performance. Very interesting taste of the traditional Japanese culture!
Next morning I meet with Natsumi (Nara, which I know since a trip I did to Krakow) and a friend of her, Daniele (Italy) to go to visit some Temples around Kyoto. At Noon Ryotas and あべくん (Kyoto) join us for lunch at the sushi train restaurant. And after lunch we go to an entertainment... football, Basket, golf, volleyball, videogames, pools ... and a big etcetera.... I finish exhausted.
After this complete day, I go to visit Nara, a village around 100 km from Kyoto full of deer’s, temples and shrines... When I get there its raining and I go to visit the National Museum of Nara, where there is an exhibition about wood Buda’s and protector’s monsters (free because Ivan give me an invitation, normally 1000 yens). After this I do the Temples route including Todaiji Temple where is the Big Buda and getting lost in the forest to end at the Museum of Photography of Nara. To dinner I meet with Natsumi and her sister Haruna. They took me to Kanakana, a Japanese restaurant with tatami floor and really good food...
When I get back to Kyoto I go for a drink with Ivan and foreigners friends from the university.
Saturday I meet Ivan to go to see a market that every 25th of every month they do in Kitano Tenman-Gu temple. We look for cards with a Japanese monsters theme…. But we don’t find them!!!
I join Ivan going to do class of Spanish in a Spanish food restaurant… Bogavante 346. The Owner is lovely and invites me to join them for a lunch. Luxury Lunch!
Sunday, I go again to Nara, this time with Daniele and Natsumi to visit some temples that I didn’t…The Byakugoji in Nara, and the Horyuji temple outside Nara. After all, the Natsumi sister picks us up and brings us to their house to do a Sushi class with their mother and grandmother. The result was amazing!
When I got back to Kyoto I went for Sake with Ivan and Silvia (Poland) in a charming bar near Ivan house.
On the next two days it’s raining at Kyoto, so I relax. I eat with Ivan and Silvia at the university; where I also buy the bus ticket to Hiroshima and I finish the book “Fiesta en la mardigera” of Juan Pablo Villalobos that Ivan give me to read. With Silvia we went to do a coffee in the middle of a nice park next to the university. We saw the sunset with Kyoto under us.
Before taking the night bus, Emi prepare for us a very nice dinner! Rice with egg and Romesco sauce on the top! Fusion kitchen! Now... to Hiroshima.
It has been hard to leave... when there is good company...! Well, anyway I have to come back to spend my last days in Japan...
Some Photos
2010-09-Kyoto i Nara (JP) https://photos.app.goo.gl/jbqk7kgC9sxPyBux5
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