World Travel 2013-2014, Gardens of Ginkaku-ji and Sunset at Kiyomizu-dera

Today was our final day in Kyoto, which was spent at three different temples. The first temple we visited was Ginkaku-ji, also known as the Silver Pavilion. This temple isn’t as popular as Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion, as a lot of tourists are attracted to the glint of the gold. Ginkaku-ji was intended to be covered in silver leaf, but was never finished. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was very surprised by how beautiful the gardens are. The temple is a Zen temple and the gardens are truly spectacular. It’s actually a much prettier garden and temple than Kinkaku-ji!

After our visit to Ginkaku-ji, we wandered over to Nanzen-ji. We didn’t head inside the temple itself but just wandered around the grounds outside the temple which were rather beautiful. Afterwards it was onto Kiyomizu-dera, probably one of the most famous temples in Kyoto. The temple is currently under renovations (and was also under renovations two years ago when were last there – I think it will be going on for a while), but we decided to head in and see the temple before the main building goes under repairs. It was beautiful lit up by the sunset and would definitely recommend visiting, provided the main building isn’t under repair.

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