It feels good to take a break every now and again. After yesterday's unexpectedly long day, I thought I should take it easy and shuffle my way over to Kobe.
Quickly, I packed up and checked out right before 11:00 am and made my way back to Kyoto Station.
Since I didn't have to check in until about 15:00, I had some time to kill so I figured since Fushimi Inari Shrine (via Inari Station) was less than 10 minutes away. I'd be able to relax in a peaceful environment.
How did I do? I'm glad you asked! Peaceful? Yes! Relaxing? Well...
I didn't do too much reading up on Fushimi Inari, but I did know that it had the iconic collection of torii gates that you could walk through.
Most recently seen in Bakemonogatari:
I tend to go with my whim at the moment, so I presumed that I would go look around at a slow pace, and eventually head back in about an hour or so. Instead, I started walking up the mountain through the torii gates. The path was smooth and had stone steps leading up. Very picturesque and the weather was cool enough. It seemed that it was going to be an easy road to the top.
However, on the way up, I noticed this:
My curiosity getting the better of me, I switched off the main path to follow the side path. Before I knew it, I was taking the alternate path up the mountain. Where the main path had better infrastructural support like bathrooms, vending machines and seating surfaces. This alternate path did not. In fact, the signage was quite limited.
Not all stairways led to the continuation of the path, most paths will lead to a shrine area. In fact, during this alternate trek up, I took a path up which only led to a shrine and a poorly maintained footpath. It would have been very easy to slip off the mountain at that point, so after a short 5-10 minute stint on that route, discretion won out over valor, and I made my way back down to a different part of the fork.
Despite the cooler weather, it was quite a workout. I needed a bathroom then something cool to drink, in that order! Finally, after hearing voices from afar, indicating that I was finally close to rejoining the main path, I made it! I looked straight into the eyes of two tourists, who looked relatively refreshed, versus what I looked like at that moment: sweaty and breathing hard.
Once I rejoined the path, it was mere minutes later that I reached the "top" portion of the course. With that out of the way, I also knew where I was, and where I could find a bathroom and eventually it was back to a rest area to treat myself to a soft cream (soft serve ice cream) and something cold to drink. Phew.
I made it to Kobe later that afternoon, but my body and especially my feet were so sore, I ended up not leaving or even going out to eat dinner. Today is a new day though with less hiking up a mountain, so it will be less strenuous by comparison.
#3dc
-- wake.eat.sleep