Japan awesome, Silver Muse, not so much, part 3 of 4 - Review of Silversea Silver Muse and trip to Japan September/October 2023 Part 3 of 4 After we disembarked the cruise line in Yokohama, we continued our Japanese adventure with 5 nights in Kyoto, and 6 nights in Tokyo. We flew JAL from Haneda to Itami. What a wonderful airline! We were helped from the moment we got into the airport, and taken to a special assistance area. The Japanese are very serious about supporting the elderly. Also families with young children and their strollers. I was given an airport wheelchair ( used inside), and my wheelchair and also my walker were wrapped in plastic. Staff were with us every step of the way, and we were met at the other end as well. Excellent service. Would recommend JAL. We stayed at the Hotel Mitsui Kyoto. I can not say enough wonderful things about this property. We were wowed from the moment we approached and entered. This was definitely built and decorated with feng shui in mind. There is a feeling of calm and peacefulness as soon as one enters the lobby and sees the pond and interior garden. The outside disappears, and one feels relaxed. The attention to detail is phenomenal. The lighting was exquisite. The staff is professional and highly trained. We have stayed at many wonderful properties all over the world, and we can say this was in the top 3! We had a lovely room overlooking the garden. Even the hallways were well done. When have you ever remembered what the hallway was like? This property has it’s own onsen spa from their own underground spring on the lower level. Stone and water, soft lighting, rain waterfalls in the pools, comfortable seating. It was visually stunning. There are two restaurants on property. Forni, also has the bar, and is great for breakfast overlooking the garden. The other was Toki – Innovative Kyoto - French for dinner, and lovingly prepared and served. Our concierge par excellance, Patricia, went above and beyond to assist us with our needs. We always required accessible friendly transport, and dinner recommendations at accessible restaurants. Patricia found us some remarkable restaurants to try different types of Japanese style meals. We tried Kaiseki, Yakitori, Izakaya, and Yakiniku. We truly loved our experiences in Kyoto. There are no tall office and apartment complexes as in Osaka or Tokyo. The Geisha district is charming. We went to the Arashiyama Bamboo forest. The amount of tour buses and tourists was incredible. Packed. Luckily our driver knew a back area entrance to a less popular section and dropped us off there. We did not stay very long, but got to hear the wind rustling the bamboo, and hear the clacking and see them swaying. It would be beautiful if not so many people! One of our most favorite stops was the Fushimi Inari shrine with the 10,000 Torii gates. We were unable to walk up the mountain, but there were plenty of gates to see and walk through with the wheelchair. Of course, no trip here would be complete without the famous Kinkakuji (Gold pavilion) Temple and gardens. It is truly glorious, and there is a way to go halfway around without steps, and when others started climbing, we just turned around to go back the way we had come. We also visited Kiyomizu-dera Temple way up above the city. The views here are fabulous.. There is a special entrance our guide was allowed to drive up since we had the wheelchair. This is close to the Gion Geisha district. We saw tons of tourists dressed in kimono taking photos for Instagram. Nijo Castle was around the corner from our hotel. As soon as we got on the grounds, with thick gravel, so difficult to manuever, we were able to use a power assisted wheelchair, and ours was stored. Upon getting to the castle section, an inside wheelchair is used. Unfortunately, no photos allowed inside. The screens are very beautiful, and the 33 rooms impressive. We also went to Ginkakuji ( Silver Pavilion) zen temple and garden. We arrived late in the day and it was not crowded at all, very peaceful and lovely. Another interesting Buddist temple was Sanjusangendo, totally accessible pathways, and inside as well, and there are 1001 life size statues inside, also no photos. Each statue has its own distinctive face. Another great recommendation from our concierge extraordinaire, Patricia, was a nearby millennial age forest with mostly accessible pathways to a shrine, Shimogamo Jinja, Kyoto’s oldest Shinto shrine. Have you read about forest bathing? It was lovely and peaceful, not many tourists. We saw a young couple in traditional dress taking wedding photos. Delightful.

Redouane is a treasure! - This was an experience like no other! I felt so privileged to have Redouane as my personal guide - he is a treasure and I would highly recommend him to anyone wanting a guided tour in English through the Medina. Redouane was extremely knowledgeable, patient, friendly, courteous. The whole tour was an absolute delight 😊!

Perfect tour! - Redone is a perfect tour guide and knows a lot about the city and its history! You walk a lot and see a lot on the tour in Fès! Absolutely worth it!

Beautiful Experience - My favorite part was wandering around the alleys and looking at the views. Watch your pockets and backpacks.

Shows you Fez’ highlights in a relaxed way - We had the privilege to go on tour with Redouan with just the two of us, in a bit off-tourism season. He showed us the greatest parts of Fez, which we actually never would’ve found without his guidance ;-). It was very relaxed, and we had the opportunity to ask a lot of questions as well, which was very nice! We really liked his background stories and relaxed tour of Fez! Thank you again for today Redouan! We enjoyed it so much! Hopefully we’ll meet once again in the future! Maybe when you visit the Netherlands? ;-)

A fantastic day learning about Fes - We had a lovely day with Redone he showed us everything that Fes has to offer from the tanneries, the copper markets, the markets, workshops, and museums. He also went the extra mile to get us a taxi out to the pottery workshops and find a nice spot for lunch where we ate together. His intimate knowledge of Fes and keen eye helped us learn a lot about this beautiful city. Thanks a lot Redone!