Kyoto has a lovely old town where the Geisha and Maiko reside and can be spotted if you’re lucky. Although it’s a big no-no to stop them in the street and ask for pictures etc. It’s fine to take pictures. Apparently they have been getting a lot of grief from tourists and we were lucky to be able to access Gion as there’s a ban in place starting April.

We had the pleasure of a half day tour of Kyoto together with our guide Yuka. We visited Gion, all the main Temples and, to Katrines delight, even found a giant space cat.

Yuka gave us plenty of tips on good restaurants as well as explaining the whole Geisha ‘thing’ (spoiler they’re not high class escorts, but highly trained entertainers who go through years of rigerous entertainment and are only available to the very wealthy or well connected in society).

Kiyomizu temple was great, the monkey ball temple too, where you could offer up one of your vices to have a wish granted. Despite having many vices I could have sacrificed I opted to hold on to them all.

We also visited a temple of beauty where we washed our faces in the waters of youth and beauty. I’m not convinced it worked on me but Katrine looked even more beautiful than usual after a quick splash and dab.

We ended the day with a meander through Nishiki Market and a visit to Nintendo HQ and shop, then opted for some delicious katsu which is fried food and accompanying bits and pieces which was super tasty.

I love how the good places serve sake over here. Right to the brim in a box to catch the overflow… And return it to the glass. Feels almost Scottish.