May 2, 2026 : A Day of Cycling Around Higashiyama
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
Today we'd planned to go to Arashiyama, but we got a late start, so we switched to the Higashiyama area instead.
From Oike Street, we headed north on Teramachi Street.
We hit Marutamachi Street and turned east.
After that, we went north and further north on Shirakawa Street.
Then, we stopped at a Japanese sweets cafe, Ichijoji Nakatani.
We ordered the warabi mochi parfait.
We then went to a cafe, Tsubame, for a coffee break, but it was almost closing time.
So we just kept cycling north up Shirakawa Street to Shirakawa Kitayama.
From there, we headed west along Kitayama Street for Horikawa Kitayama.
Along the way, we crossed Matsugasaki Bridge. It reminded me of that day.
That day when, on the way back from cherry blossom viewing, we stopped at Volks, the restaurant that means so much to me, and then rode home along the Takano River.
Partway there, we stopped at a place on Kitayama Street that looked like a cafe to rest, but they were only open until 5 pm, so we used the bathroom, bought some cookies, and left.
There was a tea cafe close by, but it likely served only set courses and looked pricey, so we skipped it.
So we got back on our bikes and continued west until we reached Horikawa Kitayama.
From there, we biked south to Horikawa Kitaoji.
Then, we cycled east to the mall near Karasuma Kitaoji.
There, we took a break at Freshness Burger on the first floor. This is a place where I often took breaks during my Doshisha days.
We stayed there resting until around 7:50 pm, then around 8:00 pm, we had spicy ramen at Fukuchian, a ramen shop on the same floor.
After eating, we went to the bike parking.
AAAAH!! We parked at the same time but hers was free and mine was 200 yen?? These automated bike parking systems really mess up way too often!!
There's actually a spot at Shijo Omiya where it always comes out free. I'm not gonna write which one here, though.
We left the mall and sped home on our bikes down Shinmachi Street.
Shinmachi Street has light traffic, so it's nice to bike on.
We didn't make it to Arashiyama as planned, but the cycling turned out to be more fun than expected.
It was a good day.