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| Entrance to Ninomaru Palace |
On our first full day in Kyoto, we were up early and headed to
Nijo Castle. Have you ever read Lian Hearn's
Across the Nightingale Floor? Well it's a great book, but more importantly, Ninomaru Palace at Nijo Castle has the famous
Nightingale floors. These floors were built to make a chirping or squesking sound when walked across to alert the inhabitants of any intruders. Anyway, this was our main reason for wanting to check out Nijo Castle, however we were pleasantly surprised by how awesomely beautiful the grounds surrounding this place were.
After doing the walk through Ninomaru Palace with what felt like a million other people and horribly behaved children, we left the palace to walk through the gardens. This was the best part. It was a FREEZING cold day compared to Okinawa, so we were getting colder by the minute when a little teahouse appeared on the path in the Seiryu-en gardens. I saw that the coffee was overpriced, but we were cold and a hot drink was in order. We walked in just wanting a rest, but what we got was yummy snacks and the most beautiful view of a Japanese garden we could have imagined! The overpriced coffee, all of a sudden became totally worth it!
The coffee was lovely, and little G got one of the most decadent and delicious hot cocoas i'd ever tried. The matcha chiffon cake was also delicious, and I don't even like matcha. We opted to sit outside and look at the garden while we had our drinks, and at that moment the sun came out and started warming our freezing legs. It was all incredibly perfect and just what we needed.
After dragging ourselves away from the lovely teahouse, we continued through the gardens to a row of amazingly yellow ginko trees. The leaves were falling off in the wind, and it was so lovely. It was like being rained on by golden leaves!
Nijo Castle was a lovely place to visit, both for the history and the beautiful autumn colours. Apparently there are many cherry trees to see in the Spring as well, so is worth checking out at other times of the year. Don't miss the lovely tea house in the Seiryu-en garden part of the complex!
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| Ninomaru Palace |
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| Gloomy Ninomaru Gardens |
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| Honmaru |
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| Honmaru garden |
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| Japanese Maple |
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| Ginko tree |
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| Moat |
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| Teahouse |
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| This view - does it get any more beautiful? |
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| Coffee and Matcha Chiffon cake |
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| Hot cocoa |
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| Menu |
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| Can't stop looking at those maple leaves |
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| Raining ginko |
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I never think of Japan as having castles! The gloomy garden and ginkgo trees look amazing!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adore Nijo Castle and it's stunning in all seasons. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it in the spring, but the pond and garden are amazing no matter what. I also see you acclimated to Okinawa because after living there, I was always so cold when I went on mainland!
ReplyDeleteThose gardens are just gorgeous. I think I could happily spend all day there, if it weren't for the cold! It was lucky you found the teahouse at just the right time so you could continue your adventures. Also, I'm utterly intrigued by Nightingale Floors!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photos! This makes me miss Kyoto so much. I've been twice and I love it there. That matcha chiffon cake also looks to die for! Thanks for sharing!!
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