The rainy season in Kamakura brings with it the most beautiful spray of bright blue and…
One of the best ways to get you into this spooky season is a walk around a local cemetery. Cemeteries are often viewed as sombre places to avoid, nothing that a happy traveller would seek out on their next exciting adventure. While they are places of reflection and respect, the dead have a lot to say about the living. Since the dawn of time, the way in which we house, dispose and care for our dead reflects the kind of society, culture and people that lived during that specific time period. While not all of us may love art, or food or sports, what we all have in common is that we will all die. Cemeteries are a place where people or all kinds can come together, for eternity.
When visiting Tokyo for the first time, one sleepy, jetlag heavy morning, we stubbed around the area we were staying and ended up on the west side of Ueno Park. Not knowing much about it, we wandered around aimlessly, discovering time after time the most peaceful, serene and beautiful little visual scenes which felt iconically Japanese. We loved it from the instant we stepped foot onto the lotus leaf-covered boardwalk which leads into the park. Ever since, when we return to Tokyo, we make a point to spend an entire half-day here exploring everything this place has to offer. Below are my favourite 13 things to do on your first trip to Ueno Park!
One of the most iconic images of Japan has to be the bright, vermillion coloured torii gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto. Many people come to Fushimi Inari Taisha not knowing the scope of it. They see the images online and think it’s just a few small alleyways – this is far from the whole picture. The main shrine sits at the base of the Inari mountains, but a path of thousands of torii gates behind the building leads visitors up 233 meters above sea level to visit 4 kilometres of sub-shrines finally ending at the magnificent mountain top shrine.
Traveling to Iceland without visiting the Blue Lagoon (or a similar Hot Springs Spa) would be like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower or travelling to Rome without passing by the Colosseum! It’s an activity anyone will enjoy as it lets you experience a truly unique aspect of Iceland’s earthly power.