Kinkaku-ji, The Golden Pavilion

We were greeted by blue skies this morning when we took the local bus to Nijo castle, seen from one of the watchtowers in extras.

It was home to a succession of Shogun warlords until the Emperor was restored to the throne. No photography is allowed inside but it houses some excellent reproductions of the original murals (the originals are housed elsewhere) and gives a fascinating insight into the way they lived.

The garden was showing some early blossom (extra) and has a tea house where we enjoyed a sweet red bean soup with sweets floating in it and a salty pickle accompaniment, washed down with green tea. It was really unusual and delicious.

From there we caught another local bus to Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion. Original a warlord’s retirement villa, it was turned into a shrine on his death and is now one of the most famous (and busy) tourist attractions in Kyoto. It is breathtakingly beautiful.

We took another bus to Nishiki Market, a covered street in the centre of the city which consists of mainly food stalls where the wares are attractively presented like those in extras. We had to try some of the local sake to sustain us on the 20 minute walk back to the hotel.

Tonight’s tasty dinner was okonomyaki in a nearby restaurant, which is a savoury pancake made with cabbage and a choice of toppings. We got to see it cooked in front of us by the very quick and skilful chefs.