April 03
We managed to rouse ourselves and get going by 10am and headed South East to Fushimi Inari Shrine. The restored paintwork is very striking and the hundreds of torii gates that lead up the mountain provide lots of arresting views.
We then headed North towards the Heian shrine and gardens filled with weeping cherry trees. After leaving there we walked South under the immense torii gate that spans the road and continued on into Higashiyama. The 'old style' streets and alleyways were filled with locals in traditional dress and tourists keen to enjoy the sakura season.
Turning West we moved into the Gion district via the Kenninji Temple complex and continued on to the Nishiki market: a covered network of streets with hundreds of small shops, boutiques and outlets selling food of every description.
By the time we'd walked through the market it was getting darker, so we decided to try the floodlit viewing at Nijo Castle. The trees looked wonderful but surprisingly difficult to capture on camera.
To end our day we headed back to Porta and found a very nice sushi restaurant where we could sit at the counter watching the chef prepare our nigiri sushi. Absolutely delicious (and the home-made wasabi was to die for!)
Whilst we did all this the others went to Miyajima and Hiroshima.
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