We decided on a reasonably early start to go and see the Fushimi Inari Shrine before it was innundated by the crowds. We did get there later than we wanted, about 8.30am, but it wasn’t too bad.

The vermillion colour of the Torii gates stand out as beacons and the vast number of them is awesome. We decided to walk to the very top of the mountain, as most people turned back after the first terrace, which overlooked Kyoto and offered a terrific panorama. It was quite a tiring hike but the atmosphere and history has a profound effect when imagining the time and labour involved in building these places, thousands of years ago.

On the way back down, Michelle messaged us and said a friend had told her about a nice coffee shop at the bottom of the mountain, so we found the Vermillion Cafe and had one of the best coffees to date, in Japan. The guy working there was an Aussie, who grew up in Cronulla, which is the area where I also grew up, so it was fun to reminisce with him.

When we got back to the station, it was very difficult to get back to the platform, due to the huge numbers of visitors getting off the train. There were six or more attendants in uniform trying to funnel the hordes into some form of line, to enable some sort of movement. Glad that we got there early, as it was now 11.30am. We did mange to squeeze past and get onto our platform, which was also packed, and get the train back towards Kyoto. I would have hated to try and return on that train after lunch