Cucumber, matcha, sweet potato: On a journey of discovery through Kyoto

Our first day in Kyoto was supposed to be a big discovery tour. We started on foot from the hotel. We chose our accommodation particularly centrally so that we could do most things on foot.

Kyoto is sometimes called the city of 1000 temples. And of course the name doesn't come by chance. There are numerous temples and shrines in the city. One more beautiful than the other.

Of course we want to look at at least some of them while we're here. One of the most famous is the Kiyomizu-Dera. From up there you have a wonderful view of the city. This temple was our first stop and was really, really beautiful.

Disadvantage: it was also very, very crowded. Luckily, Kian slept under his blanket as we pushed our way through the alleys to the temple.

The good thing is: no matter what you visit, most people always stop at the beginning and don't go any further. We always walk the entire complex and often find parts that are deserted.

Our second stop took us to the famous Geisha district of Gion. Nowadays you no longer meet geishas there and taking photos is sometimes forbidden there because the geishas were literally harassed by tourists.

Still a nice corner to stroll along. On the way we also took in the Yasaka Shrine and numerous other temples. You almost never have to put your camera down here, there is always something to photograph.

Next we took the train to Fushimi Inari-Taisha. We actually wanted to go here on another day, but since it was supposed to rain and we still had time, we went.

The complex is known for the 1000 red gates that lead to the top of the mountain. At the beginning it is incredibly full here, but the further you go up, the emptier it becomes and the more magical it becomes.

Unfortunately, we only made it to the 7th of 10 stations with the stroller and Kian. From there it would have been another 30 minutes of stairs and so unfortunately we had to give up. Nevertheless, it was very, very nice and definitely worth it.

On the way we saw ravens stealing tangerines from trees. And the view was also very pretty from station 7.

Speaking of tangerines. We also did a lot of culinary things today. Salted cucumber on a skewer, candied strawberries, filled fish-shaped dumplings (vanilla / Nutella), mochi with strawberries or fresh sweet potato wedges from the street stall - there was a lot there. We also tried matcha (it's available in all variations on every corner). However, it wasn't our thing 😂 it definitely tasted too “green” 😂

In total we walked over 15 kilometers - but it was worth it. We saw a lot of great things and got a great first impression of Kyoto.