Bicycles were our preferred mode of transportation in Kyoto. We picked them up from a rental shop on our first day in town and kept them until the day we left. We biked everywhere. Cole did a phenomenal job of navigating us to the numerous temples and sights and, with the exception of one big rainstorm on our last day, we had great weather. Bicycles proved to be a fun, convenient, and relatively cheap way of touring the city, plus helped us burn a few calories on the way.
In the evening we arrived just in time to see Ginkakuji, or “Temple of the Silver Pavilion”. The construction on this Zen temple began in 1482 with plans for a silver-foil exterior, however it was never completed. The “unfinished” look of the temple is now considered an example of the Japanese aesthetic known as Wabi-sabi. A busy street lined with restaurants and shops solicit to tourist on their way to the temple gate.
Tips:
*Kyoto is regularly voted one of the best cycling cities in Asia
*Kyoto is flat and there are many places to rent or buy a bicycle
*Roads in Kyoto are bike-friendly
*Ginkaku-ji also known as the Silver Pavilion
*The Silver Pavilion is a Zen temple and was originally constructed as a mountain villa for shoguns
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Shop Photography Prints:
Can’t get enough kakigori!
The Silver Pavilion and surrounding gardens:
From Ginkakuji we biked The Philosopher’s Path while stopping to see various temples and shrines along the way.
Sanmon, the mammoth main gate of Nanzen-ji.
Information from the guide board posted beside the canal explains the Biwako-sosui canal was built between Lake Biwa and Kyoto City to provide water transport as well as waterpower, irrigation, and fire prevention. The canal construction began in June 1885 and was complete in September 1894. In those days, large-scale constructions used to be entrusted to foreign engineers, but the Biwako-sosui canal was constructed by Japanese engineers only for the first time. As the modern inheritance which shows the construction technology level of Japan in the Meiji era, the canal was designated as a National Historical Site together with 11 other sites in June 1996. The water of the canal is being used for generation of electricity, fire-fighting, as well as water service for houses and industry. It is still playing an important role to support everyday life of people of Kyoto.
