After Monday’s city tour of Kobe, I visited Nara, the other famous place near Osaka.
From Osaka, the easiest way to get there is by direct train: the Kintetsu Railway runs from Namba Station to Kintetsu-Nara Station (680 yen/direction). From here, the famous Deer Park, home to the gentle deer, is just a few hundred meters away. Since it’s not a large area, the park and its main attractions can easily be explored on foot.
First, I went to one of the most famous attractions, Todai-ji Temple. This route is where you can encounter the most deer. Lots of them were wandering around among the people, really as if they were domestic animals. It’s funny to see them bowing, that’s how they wait for food. 🙂
To enter Todai-ji Temple, you have to go through a massive gate, and the impressive building stands in the middle of a small park. There are two types of tickets: 800 yen for just the main temple, 1200 yen including the museum. I only bought a ticket for the main temple. Inside there are several huge statues, including the inevitable Buddha.
After that, I walked to the Todai-ji Nigatsu-do Temple on the eastern edge of the park. This is a higher area, so the view from the temple is excellent. There were far fewer people here than elsewhere, most people won’t walk even a few hundred meters. 🙂
I continued my walk southward and reached Wakakusayama Hill. This is a large, steep hillside, admission is 150 yen. I didn’t go all the way to the top, but climbed up to the highest point of the steep section where there’s a fence. The view is wonderful, I definitely recommend the approximately 5-6 minute climb upward.
There are several Shinto shrines in the southeastern part of the park. I walked over there too, although these don’t show anything new compared to what I’d seen before. The Kasugataisha Shrine is the most beautiful, but it requires admission.
The most beautiful sight in the southern part of the park is the Ukimido Pavilion. This is a small resting area standing on a lake, which can be approached by a wooden bridge. The lake surrounded by yellowing and reddening trees offered a wonderful view.
After that, I went to the Naramachi district, which preserves the city’s past. It consists of a few streets where you can see typical Japanese wooden houses. While strolling here, I found a small museum that has preserved old-style furnishings. Admission was free, so I went in to look around.
Only one attraction remained, the also famous temple, Kofuku-ji. I only photographed this from the outside, I’d had enough temple visits for the day. 🙂 Anyway, you can see it perfectly well from outside, it’s only separated from the outer area by a small fence, so I found it unnecessary to go in.
I spent about 6 hours in Nara, which was enough time to explore the most important part, the park. The deer alone make it worth coming here, after a while you don’t even notice anymore that there’s a deer standing next to you. 🙂
In Part 1, I wrote about useful information and things to know – it’s worth starting with that!
