KYOTO TRAVEL GUIDE - Where to Go and What to Eat!! (Japan)

I'm in Kyoto and this city was the ancient capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, from the 8th to the 19th century. So it's here that you can get a really good idea of ancient Japan. The city is full of shrines and Buddhist temples that really tell the story of Buddhism and Shintoism and how they've impacted the Japanese culture and heritage. I'm in the Higashiyama district at the moment and this is a very old neighbourhood. So it's beautiful, you've got these really narrow cobblestone streets and it's got a real feel of ancient Japan. You've also got very traditional wooden structures on either side of the road so it's just like going back in time really when you come here. The old era of Japan. Just walking around this neighbourhood you keep kind of bumping into really old historic relics. So for example this gorgeous pagoda. It's unbelievable. So this is part of a Buddhist temple. So I have made it up to the temple of Kizumidera which stands at the top of one of these steep narrow lanes. Kizumidera literally translates to pure water temple because it sits atop the Otowa waterfall on one of the highest hills in the east of Kyoto. It was built in the 8th century so it's got over 1400 years of history and it's just characterised by this gorgeous vermilion red so it's really really beautiful and it's a stunning design. So one of the buildings that you have at the start of the temple is this gorgeous red story pagoda again in this beautiful vermilion red. It's got such intricate carvings when you look at the detail. Wow the view from here is absolutely beautiful and you can just see like some temples shrouded in the trees and the greenery. It's very mystical. Buddhism is very much a Zen religion which is all about spirituality and harmony and peace and balance. So of course they built these temples in these very sort of Zen like settings. From here I have a really good view of the main praying hall and the wooden stage something that this temple is really well known for. What's really impressive is that it was built without using any nails so it's all made of wood it's 13 meters above the ground and it is just an incredible piece of architecture. So a popular superstition or myth about this temple is that if you were to jump off the 13 meter tall stage and survive then you would be granted your wish. So in the past I think about 400 people did this and 80% survived but I don't think that they do this today it's probably a bit too risky. I've just got to the Ottawa waterfall which is at the base of the temple and it's divided into three streams and each stream is said to have a different effect so longevity, success and love but you shouldn't drink from all three because if you do it's said to be very greedy and maybe you won't have luck in any of the three so I'm going to try and restrain myself and I don't know which one I'm going to pick. So since I could only choose one of the streams I went for the longevity stream so I wish to have a long and healthy life so let's hope that comes true. It's been absolutely amazing exploring this temple and it really brings to life for me the importance historically of the Buddhist religion to the Japanese culture and heritage. I'm at Tokyo station waiting for the bullet train to Kyoto. I'm so excited of course Japan is famous for the bullet train. Whilst I've been in Japan I've been using my phone a lot for things like directions, google maps to let me know what tube or subway I need to take to get somewhere. It's been invaluable for me to have mobile data the whole time. I'm using Olafly's virtual e-sim which means I don't have to take my physical sim card out of my phone. It's a virtual e-sim so when you purchase a sim card either on their website or on their mobile app you get an email with a QR code and that's how you install it. You can literally scan the QR code from your mobile gallery so that's what I did. That installs the e-sim onto your phone and you have mobile data from the get-go so you're just ready. It's really great just go on their website you can browse the list of countries that they have. They've got full coverage in more than 180 countries now and unlimited data coverage in over 60 countries so it's an amazing service that they offer. I really recommend when you travel or you go on holiday next get yourself an Olafly e-sim. Use my code Melina Angelica for 5% off and don't worry about mobile data. So I'm in downtown Kyoto now just walking across the bridge you've got a beautiful view of the Kamo river and I'm heading to see what the local Kyoto cuisine is like. It's quite a bit more modern this area in Kyoto so it's much more kind of a city feel. I am out tonight to get myself something which is a very very typical Kyoto specialty here Nishin soba noodles. So I found this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant specializes in soba which is amazing and they obviously they do the typical Kyoto Nishin herring so that's exactly what I'm going to eat now. Wow look at that so this is Nishin herring soba noodles. I've been dying to try this. The reason why soba noodles are so famous in Kyoto and they're the best place to eat them is because the water here the water in Kyoto is of such a high quality and then because Kyoto is basically surrounded by mountains and landlocked they don't have access to fresh seafood and they didn't have access to fresh seafood historically so they used to sort of ferment or dry a lot of fish and eat it that way so that's why you've got the sort of dried herring. I love that mix between like the salty savory broth and the slightly sweet herring. The soba noodles are much thicker than your typical noodles. Slurping is considered polite here so I shouldn't feel too bad about it. You know it's so nice because that herring has flavored the broth. There is nothing better than just finding a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant like this where you just have only locals and everyone's just you know eating the old-school Kyoto special Nishin soba. So nice. I've come to Nishiki market in downtown area now this market's incredible because it's 400 years old so it's got a lot of history and it's just lined with lots and lots of little shops selling local produce. It's quite cool there's so much food on offer here so you can get street food if you want. Big old oysters there. Big old oysters. So I really want to try the local Japanese sweets. These I've seen lots of and they're sort of like shaped like a fish. It's almost like a waffle. They look so good. You've got different fillings and I think one of them is red bean paste. They use that a lot and it's quite sweet. So I went for the one that has red bean paste and butter. Oh look at that it's already melting. You can see the butter melting there. It's so delicious like that red bean paste I would have never thought would be like something you would put in a dessert. This shop here does lots of desserts like basically on a stick like skewers and one of them is a sweet potato bean paste so I'm intrigued to see what that's like. I have no idea what it's going to taste like honestly these Japanese sweets are like nothing I'm used to. So here goes. Okay I don't know how to describe this. Really where do I start? It's very very fluffy and pillowy kind of like marshmallow. Nowhere near as sweet as I thought it would be. I don't think the Japanese have the same kind of sweet tooth that we have in Europe. Let's put it that way. I don't know. I'm not gonna lie. I don't think this one's for me. This is one of the things I'm the most excited to try and I've just seen that they're selling it here. It's like mochi cakes with a strawberry inside it. Look at it. Oh my gosh. I can't even describe what mochi is. It's a Japanese sweet and it is literally like play-doh-y, gooey, sugary. Very much like marshmallow. Oh I love that. I love mochi. Like it's so gooey the texture. It's like strawberry jelly. I feel like they've dusted it with some powder too like sugar powder. It's so good. Again not that sweet. Japan wouldn't be the same without mochi. Okay so there's an area very close to Kyoto called Uji where they make the matcha green tea and a lot of it comes from that region so there's a lot of sweets that are based on matcha and have matcha in them and ice cream and I've really really been wanting to try the matcha flavoured ice cream. You actually choose the strength of matcha so I think I'll probably get something like the premium because I want the good stuff. Okay so I'm gonna try the famous matcha ice cream. Wow okay that really really does taste like tea. It's got actually got a slight bitterness to it from the matcha. It's incredibly creamy though look at that. This marks the end of my exploration into the Japanese sweet scene here at Nishiki Market and it has been very interesting. So I'm at the King Kakuji Temple and I really wanted to come here because it is the only temple in Kyoto which is basically wrapped in gold leaf. It's unbelievable. This temple was actually the retirement villa of the shogun Yoshimitsu. Shoguns were appointed by the emperors in Japan and they were basically were de facto rulers of Japan. I mean to me like if you're gonna build a temple why not build it wrapped in gold to really show off how powerful you are. In his will before he died he said he wanted it to be converted into a Zen Buddhist temple. I think probably one of the most Zen Buddhist temples in Kyoto because you just look at the stunning setting. So right on the top of the golden pavilion sits a gold phoenix very much symbolic of an imperial household and it came to Japan from China but you know the phoenix is a mythological creature that is very much related with goodwill and rising from the ashes. So just looking up at it it is incredible like a real crowning glory of this beautiful gold pavilion. Beautiful nature, ducks and herons. What a stunning setting it's so idyllic. Basically by far my favorite temple here in Kyoto. I've come to the west of Kyoto so this is Arashiyama and this is where there's a lot of beautiful nature. So you've got the Katsura river and people are like taking them boats out. This is where you can really see that Kyoto is surrounded by mountains. You've got the mountains here and it's also very famous for the Arashiyama bamboo forest which I'm going to go and walk through now. I'm really excited but it's just such a beautiful scenic setting like it's just a really stunning view. I think this place really captures the scenic beauty of Japan. So the bamboo forest path is just surrounded by hundreds of bamboo trees and they're all very tall and especially around this time where the sun's going to set in a couple of hours so it's low in the sky just peeking through the bamboo. Such a sort of mystical and spiritual setting. This is the second stage of the bamboo forest walk and it is incredible because they feel like they're even taller and they all meet in the middle so it's just so mystical like it's a real sort of dream-like atmosphere and that sound is incredible. Oh it's so peaceful. This is Pontocho alley. It's a very quaint narrow street very much old school Kyoto and it's just lined with lots of beautiful restaurants and little bars and cozy establishments. Something I've noticed while traveling in Japan is that all of these restaurants will have these curtains on the outside so it makes it very private when you're inside dining. So I found this really really cozy little place and it specializes in what's called kushiyaki which is grilled meat and vegetables. So they have just brought the kushiyaki, grilled shrimp, chicken skin, chicken thigh and the tenderloin. I'm gonna start with the chicken skin. Delicious. I love the way that it's got a sweet and sour sauce with it. I'm gonna go for the grilled shrimp next. I love how they've grilled the shrimp so you have that kind of smokiness from the charcoal. I think this might be my favorite. Very informal way of dining here in Japan. Typical kind of small izakaya you know have a drink and a few little snacks like yakitori or kushiyaki. Really really great place. I have come to the most famous shrine in the whole of Japan the Fushimi Inari shrine. I have also decided today to dress up in the traditional attire the kimono which is great. It took a while to get done and put the outfit on and get my hair done but I feel very much in the role of ancient Japan. But the best bit about the shrine is yet to come so I am excited to see it and to show you guys why this shrine is so famous. Oh my gosh there's so many people dressed up and they're so cute like this little girl she looks absolutely adorable. Before entering the sacred space or the it is a cleansing ritual that you should rinse both your hands and your mouth then when you enter into the sacred space you're meant to give an offering to the kami to the gods so you toss a coin and you clap twice you then bow twice and you clap once more. What I love about this ground complex is that it's completely vermilion red so it really kind of stands out. This is what I'm so excited about because it is just endless red torii gates which is incredible. Now torii gates are obviously the sacred gate before you enter into the shrine. So there's two rows which diverge here and it's called the senbon torii which stands for a thousand torii gates so you literally just have torii gate upon torii gate which has been donated by an individual or a company some of them go for and the inscriptions on the torii gates are basically the date of the donation and who donated it so it's pretty amazing I mean you know they do this because they want or they wish for good luck in return. So throughout the grounds you have lots of little shrines that you'll see along the way and some bigger ones at the entrance. This is the Fushimi Inari shrine and Inari is the god of rice so you'll see a lot of statues of foxes throughout the shrine the reason being that foxes were said to be the messengers to the god Inari. Wow that is incredible just beautiful nature such tall trees there's a beautiful stream with fish in it gorgeous it's just an endless sea of red torii gates I think I might donate one quite fancy my name carved into one of these torii gates Another thing which this area Fushimi is famous for is sake because of the superior quality water which runs underground and in this area you'll find lots and lots of sake breweries so I'm heading to one now want to do some tastings and just learn more about how it's made. So this is a gekkan brewery and it has been producing sake since the 1600s so for centuries. So now I'm in the room where they used to brew the sake and you've got lots and lots of tools used in the brewing process so essentially sake is rice wine and to make it you need plenty of water high quality water you need rice of course plenty of rice and then they use a special Japanese mold which is called koji and it's also the mold which is used to make soy sauce and miso so there's a whole fermentation process which happens much like making other wines and other alcohols. So what's really cool about this exhibition is that you can see some of the really old school bottles of sake from the early 1900s look at that they just look so authentic so I'm going to try a bit of the water I'm expecting it to be fantastic because it's meant to be the highest quality water tastes very pure let's go and taste the sake that this magical water produces so very Japanese they've got sort of vending machines where you can self-serve yourself the sake first one I'm going to try is a retro one from the late 60s so it's kind of one of the original tastes of the sake that they make oh I like that that is gorgeous because that is sweet and I love the kind of sweeter fruitier sake that's delicious so creamy and rich so the next one is described as elegant and fragrant typical of the fushimi region that we're in very nice drier than the first one very elegant it's been a fantastic experience coming here learning about sake production trying sake in one of the original 16th century breweries really and wearing a kimono all while doing it couldn't think of anything better kanpai I'm in Gion which is known as the geisha district and geishas are very very synonymous with Japan I mean geisha along with like samurai and ninjas are very much linked to the Japanese identity you know really the birth of the geisha back in the 1900s was all about entertaining the wealthy elite they have a reputation internationally as maybe being linked to prostitution and that's really not true they are performance artists who perform things like music and dance they know how to play the traditional instruments so anyway I'm just going to walk around this district and see if I spot a geisha if I'm lucky enough or not so I have been lucky enough to see a few geisha and they're sort of rushing to their appointment so they'll be entertaining guests tonight but they're obviously kind of embarrassed about being pepped and there's lots of people trying to take photos of them it's pretty amazing to see them up close okay so there are some fantastic places to eat around this district so I'm going to go and have a very traditional dinner Kyoto is the birthplace of what they call kaiseki dining and kaiseki dining is not just about the food but it's also about the whole dining experience so over several courses you enjoy very seasonal foods and ingredients and it's a lot to do with the traditional techniques that the chef uses and he will choose what to serve you so I'm in a place right now called Kinmata and it was founded in the beginning of the 1800s literally been going for seven generations and it's still run by the same owner. Sashimi. Kaiseki is so much about the presentation of food that sashimi just melts in your mouth. Dry bonito, Kyoto original taro, Japanese ebi imon all very seasonal types of root veg and topped with these bonito flakes giving it that umami fishy flavor. So we've got tempura here which looks and smells delicious and some very seasonal vegetables. Pumpkin and fushimi green pepper and then shrimp. Nearing the end of the kaiseki experience. Kaiseki way of dining it almost feels like a ceremonial experience and I really feel that way right now the way they sort of like shuffle in and they're wearing kimonos the waitresses and they speak in very hushed tones so I'm almost I'm almost sort of inclined to sort of whisper and use a very hushed voice when talking but it really does feel like a whole ritual and this is what the Japanese are so good at. I've had an amazing time here in Kyoto and it's been a real eye-opening insight into ancient Japan and the Japanese culture and heritage. So for me this place is beautiful and it's full of gorgeous old monuments and it just tells the story of old Japan.