Kyoto the Trip! Part 12 - Kyoto Gosho and Eikando

Our last day in Kyoto was sunny and warm. We had until 8PM until our bus would whisk us back to Fukuoka, so once again we set out to explore some of the remaining sites we had not yet hit on rented bicycles.

Our travels first took us past Kyoto Gosho, the Emperor's residence in Kyoto. He wasn't in that day, so we just tucked a note under the door saying we had visited and were sorry we had missed him.

Anyway, most of the massive grounds are a big, free park that is open to everyone so we pedaled around a bit, which was difficult on the gravel. There is a little villa in a garden you can see, it used to be the residence of a retainer back in the old days:
After that we pedaled over to Higashiyama, stopping at the Eikando. The Eikando is a decent temple with a very lovely little garden tucked in a courtyard that looks different from different sides. If you are a garden lover I recommend coming to Kyoto a couple weeks later than we did, these places must look amazing with all the leaves open:
They've decorated the temple buildings with these colorful curtains which just scream "Eikando":
You can climb up the hill to a little pagoda halfway up. Its got a nice view of the city from up there. It looks better photographed from a distance though:
Our Kyoto trip continues in the next post!

Related Posts:
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 1 - Tofukuji and Sanjusangendo
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 2 - Kiyomizu Temple and Maruyama Koen
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 3 - Ryoanji and Ninnaji
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 4 - Shopping Arcades by Night
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 5 - Antiquing Kyoto Style
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 6 - Cute Buddhist Statues
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 7 - Ohara and the Wrath of Mount Hiei
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 8 - Kyoto Station vs. Kyoto Tower
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 9 - Japanese Tourism and the Earthquake
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 10 - Kamogawa and Pontocho
- Kyoto the Trip! Part 11 - Yasaka Jinja and Gion by Night