After a “western” breakfast buffet, we put on our walking shoes for a fun-filled day by foot here in Kyoto! My marathon body was ready for all 21,000 steps that today would bring (~ 10 miles) and the skeleton approved!

We took an Uber ride to Fushimi Inari Taisha, which is one of the iconic shrine attractions here with red arches. I thought this would be similar to other shrines and a quick stop, before continuing on our way to many other shrines. Fushimi Inari Taisha was ready to put my marathon body to the test, with 12,000 incline steps up 230 meters (754 feet) to the top of Mt. Inari. It was 63 F and we began our fun trek. We stopped a few times along the way for picturesque photos, but continued on our way. It got hot on the trek up, but we started laughing at how many stairs and red pillars there were (10,000 arches). At intermittent points, there were smaller shrines and stones that looked like gravestones. We continued to trek to the top, which was honestly less appealing than the hike. We caught our breath, said hello to a few other English speaking tourists, and made our descent down. All-in-all, this shrine took around 2.5 hours and it was fascinating, but I’ve seen enough stairs and arches for a long while!

We headed by foot to the next shrine, getting some Kobe beef on a stick, potatoes on a stick, strawberries on a stick, and yes, bamboo shoots too! The beef was delicious, like melt in your mouth kind. The strawberries had a plastic-like glaze, but edible nonetheless. The bamboo shoots tasted like a vegetable, but unique anyways.

Our next stop was the Hokan-Ji Temple, which was in the middle of a neighborhood. It was tall, immaculate, and interesting. In this neighborhood, many locals were dressed in full Kimonos. As tourists, we definitely stuck out but so did others, too. We continued to our next stop which was the Kiyomizu-dera Temple + Pagoda. We hiked around some more steps, inclines, and declines while admiring the intricate details that make this the highlight of the day. We managed to not run into any wild boar or loose monkeys, despite the signs telling us to look out for these creatures. The marathon body was doing great, but the calves were starting to feel all the fun from the day. My feet were very happy, however, in my Xero shoes! These are the best minimalist footwear and sure looked more comfortable than the locals in Kimonos with sandals with socks. It’s such an interesting eye-opening culture and here I was, in the middle of all of it!

Our final exhibit for today by foot was the Yasaka Shrine. I had wanted to get here at dark to see the lanterns all lit up, but we were about an hour ahead of that and getting hungry. This was our shortest stop for the day. It was about 6pm and we had been traveling by foot since 11am. I took some pictures, then we were on our way to a brewery for dinner that consisted of “pizza,” a beef platter, and local veggies.

On Wednesday, we have a biking tour booked for more fun marathon “active” recovery! It should be an interesting tour with a local English-speaking guide. I’m always about experiences instead of buying souvenirs, so this was one of our fun things that we didn’t book until arriving in Kyoto. Stay tuned for an update soon! 🐒