Kyoto, Japan

Although never confirmed, it's suspected that during World War Two, a decision was taken not to bomb Kyoto, which means many of the attractions here date back hundreds of years. That’s in stark contrast to Tokyo, where nearly everything was rebuilt after 1945. That makes it a unique destination and the history is everywhere, in shrines, castles, and gardens. In fact, there are so many standout attractions that it’s hard to know where to start on a visit to Kyoto.

Our choice was Nijo Castle, which dates from the late 16th century, when it was created by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was the place for welcoming visiting dignitaries to the city and it’s an impressive sight and one that must have put fear into the hearts of many of those visitors. You enter through the Karamon Gate, with its gold plated fixtures immediately telling you that you’re in a place where no expense was spared.

The main part of the palace is across a courtyard and today’s visitors have to quickly adjust their eyes to the low lighting levels that are in place to preserve the beautiful paintings all over the walls. These paintings are quite something, with some depicting big cats, such as tigers. The only problem was that, at the time they were painted, the artists had never seen these majestic animals, so could only guess at what they looked like and in fact ended up painting leopards! Despite that, they are stunning images and still look beautiful today, more than 400 years after they were first created.

As you walk along, you quickly become aware of one of the security measures put in place at Nijo Castle -- what's called nightingale floors. They were carefully laid out, so that nails beneath the floorboards would rub together and squeak. They still perform that function to this day. It was a way of the guards knowing exactly where people were, and made it almost impossible for intruders to get inside the castle.

Replicas exist today of the reception chambers that would have been used to greet guests and, with models of the Shogun and women in kimonos, you could picture exactly what it would have been like all those years ago. What did surprise us was how simple the Shogun’s living chambers were. No ornate decoration for him, contrary to what you’d expect.

The castle is only half the story here, as the gardens are a real treasure and worth devoting some serious time to. They’re beautifully laid out and it feels as if they go on forever. The views from the castle walls over the gardens are well worth seeing. We were lucky enough to be in Kyoto during cherry blossom season and, during this time, they open up the gardens at night, so you can enjoy the cherry trees during darkness. It was a unique experience and the gardens were just as beautiful at night as they were during daylight hours.

Nijo Castle is quite unique in that it’s on the subway line in Kyoto. Perhaps because there’s so much history to this city, the subway line is very underdeveloped here, compared to Tokyo, with only two lines, one going north to south and the other essentially going east to west. That presents an interesting problem for visitors, as many of the city’s attractions aren’t anywhere near public transport. I didn’t fancy the idea of trying out the city’s buses, so we stuck with taxis, but even then, we found those to be a challenge, with many taxi drivers speaking either little or no English. Fortunately, with my pidgin Japanese, we got by fine, but it’s definitely worth asking your hotel to write down the details of where you’re heading, so that you can show this to the taxi driver.