On our last full day in Kyoto, we made a few stops. We started our day at Kinkaku-ji, also known as the Golden Pavilion. It’s a Zen Buddhist temple famous for its top two floors that are completely covered in gold leaf. The temple sits beside a reflective pond in a carefully designed Japanese garden, creating the beautiful mirror image you can see in the first photo. Originally built in 1397 as a retirement villa for a shogun, it was later converted into a temple. The current structure is actually a reconstruction from 1955, as the original was destroyed by fire in 1950. It’s one of Japan’s most iconic landmarks and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Our next stop was the Ninenzaka area in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. These are historic preserved streets that lead up toward Kiyomizu-dera Temple. The narrow stone-paved paths are lined with traditional wooden buildings that now house shops, restaurants, and tea houses selling everything from traditional crafts and souvenirs to matcha sweets and local snacks. We decided to stop at a very unique Starbucks location and also picked up some engraved chopsticks and other trinkets.
We ended our day at a Bengal Cat Cafe, where we met very friendly but moody and sassy-looking cats. They were all incredibly friendly; they just had a constant “grumpy” expression. They loved to lay on everyone’s laps or on the little pillows scattered around the cafe and always welcomed pets. We also had custom hankos created with our names before ending the day with dinner.