The sun was already out when we left the house a bit after 9. We walked up the hill just around the corner to the Monkey Park Iwatayama. From here we had a nice view of Kyoto, a city we already visited in 2009. Unlike the last 3 weeks it was already busy with mostly Westerners, something we were not used to anymore. The monkeys are “wild” and live up on the mountain and come down in the morning to search for food. As this is a park, they have an easy life as they are fed at certain times by the park staff and by visitors who can buy food and feed them from within a wooden building.
Coming down from the hill we crossed the more than 100-year old wooden Togetsu-kyo Bridge to get to the Tenryuji Temple with it’s UNESCO garden.
Exiting on the North exit it was a short walk to the Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. As this is a popular tourist attraction it was crowded with people, many in groups with their guides. We decided to follow a quieter path and walk to the Gio-Ji temple and it’s moss covered garden.
Around 3 in the afternoon we were back at the house so we could prepare the suitcases for tomorrow when we drive to Osaka, return our car and take a Shinkansen to Tokyo.