Osaka: Part 2

On our last day in Osaka we visited Shitennoji Temple.









We also visited the Japanese garden in Tennoji Park before boarding a train to take us back to Tokyo and ultimately a chilly Zürich.

Mt. Koya

Up in the mountains about two hours from Osaka is Mt. Koya. We went there on a day trip to visit the town's many shrines and temples. For me the highlight was the path through Okunoin, an old cemetery. The surroundings looked completely different every few steps and were amazingly beautiful. It is hard to narrow down which photos to post here, so here are quite a few ... though many less than what we actually took!

















We also visited Kongobuji Temple.





Later in the day we visited the Garan complex.













We also visited Daimon Gate.



On our walk back to town to catch the bus we passed this beautiful park.

Kobe

The great thing about the Japan Rail Pass is that you have full use of the JR system and can travel with or without reservations on most shinkansen trains. The allowed us to make a few last minute plans. About halfway through our day in Osaka we decided to hop on a shinkansen and travel (only!) 15 minutes to Kobe and spend the rest of the afternoon exploring that city. Here are some of the pictures we took on our day trip.


Kobe Tower


View from Kobe Tower


Chinatown


Ikuta Inja Shrine

Osaka: Part 1

The next stop on our trip was Osaka.

We visited Osaka Castle.












View from Osaka Castle

We then decided to hop on a train and head to Kobe for a few hours (pics in another post) before returning to Osaka that evening and visiting the Umeda Sky Building, which was just incredible at night!


A model of the building


Looking up at the observatory from the ground


View from a distance

From the observatory we enjoyed some incredible views of a rainy night in Osaka.

Beppu

We then visited Beppu, which is located on the northeast coast of Kyushu. We visited two of the "hells" while we were there. The first "hell" we visited was Umi Jigoku. Before seeing the main hot spring attraction, we passed a beautful pond with lilypads and huge lotus leaves, the likes of which I had never before seen. We then reached the main attraction, which was a bit difficult photograph because of all of the steam.













We visited a second "hell." This one was called Oniishibouzu Jigoku.





We splurged and spent the night in a Japanese ryokan and enjoyed dinner in our room.





The next morning we visited a nearby monkey park.