Kyoto is without doubt one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. We spent our four days here visiting temples, castles and shrines, trying new foods, sleeping on the floor and walking a LOT. I sprained my ankle the first day here, but it hasn't given me too much trouble since then, thankfully.
We stayed in a ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn, which was definitely an experience. We really enjoyed it, but as we both have back problems, we think next time we come we'll stay at the Westin :). The accommodation included dinner as well as breakfast, and we had some really amazing food, including a kaiseki meal, shabu-shabu and sukiyaki. Neither of us is a great fish lover, but we tried most things - although we drew the line at a whole fish which, whilst beautifully prepared, could not tempt us to break off its head and take a bite. We declined dinner at the ryokan one night (sashimi on the menu that night) and went out for the most amazing teppanyaki, then we found a sake bar run by an Israeli ex-pat who's been in Japan for 23 years, where we tried seven different types of sake.
We visited loads of temples and shrines, including Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), the Heian Shrine, Kiyomizu Temple, Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion) and Chion-in, whose 'Sanmon' entrance gate is the largest in the world.
Again, full photos are here but my favourites are below.
Our room in the ryokan
The Heian-jingu torii
Heian Shrine
All the gardens looked at least as beautiful as this
Kinkaku-ji
Nijo Castle
Outside the Manga Museum. Yes, it was as hot as it looks
Sanmon Gate
Ginkaku-ji with Kyoto in the background
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