Honestly, after seeing temples and shrines in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nara, I wasn’t that keen on seeing Kyoto anymore. Call it temple fatigue.

If JR had announced a major breakdown of their lines and I could not have gone, I wouldn’t have fussed about it….

But I went, nonetheless, and I have spent a whole day there without seeing one temple, shrine, statue or other historic monument. That’s quite a challenge.

I went on a photo exhibition hunt throughout town.

Kyotographie is a yearly major photo exhibition, that presents a number of artists in various places across town. For 2000 ¥ you get a pass for all of them, and a map, and off you go. to discover 15 different spaces.

In a satellite event called KG+, you can see another 50 places across town. Plenty to do for a day. Too much actually, I only managed seven of them.

I was pretty much blown away.

Diorama Map for example is a number of aerial views of major citieslike Tokyo, Paris, London, Istanbul or Rio, places I know, have been to on this trip, or are still on my list…

Assembled by artist Sohei Nishino in a David-Hockney style, they present his unique perspective and form a collage of memories of place.

And on top they make a recognizable map of the city. 

Photographer Tim Flach presented pictures of animals in his ‘More than human‘ series.

I had seen some of his works before. Some deadly cute, some really interesting, moving images of animals, almost intimate.

On top of the art, I got to see many different places in Kyoto, from modern buildings in an Art School to old Japanese Tea houses or museums, that had made a small space available for Kyotographie.

I would never have strolled into these places without my map.

So I got to see Kyoto from a different angle, walking through the streets of the city, its alleys, markets and passages, and ignoring the parks and the temples I passed.

At nightfall, I even saw a real Geisha. I knew they are seen in the streets some times at night, but I did not know where they were or when would be a good time – I had forgotten my guide in Osaka….

She just appeared out of a side alley, in full dress and makeup, clutching her bag and scurrying over the street, right in front of me.

It happened to fast to take a picture, and some memories are best remembered, not photographed.

In a second, she was gone in another alley, like a ghost.