Ryoanji, Kyoto

After Kinkakuji, I decided to walk the 20 minute, well signposted way to Ryoanji.
Ryoanji is famous for its Kare Sansui- dry landscape garden, and I wanted to see the place from my textbooks last year.

The walk was really straightforward and pretty peaceful too, I'd recommend if you're not in a hurry.

There were a lot of school kids who were presumably also there to see the place from the textbooks. 

Although I went to see the rock garden, one of the things that really stood out for me at Ryoanji was the autumn leaves, they wereso beautiful. If you're looking for a good place to see them I'd say try here if you have time.

First I went up to the rock garden. There is a ledge to sit on and look at the rocks, and you can take pictures but I don't think you're allowed to sketch(?) 

Anyway it was really cool to see. The rocks are all supposed to represent different things like landscape features or boats, and one of the key things is that they are placed so you can't see all of them at the same time. 

After the rock garden, I walked round the pretty large gardens. There is a huge lake and loads of trees so it was a really calming walk.

After Ryoanji, instead of taking the bus back I decided to walk around the nearby residential area and get lost a little. That's one of the things I love about Kyoto, you can go from super touristy to really residential in about 5 minutes.

I eventually took a bus back to the centre and then the train home. 

I'll be back, Kyoto :) 

Thanks for reading~

-Amy xoxo