Japan: Nara

Nara was one of my favorite cities to go to for a few reasons. I liked the small-town feeling and being able to walk to everything…it made it quick, convenient and inexpensive to site-see in the area. I also loved the deer there. Not only were they so friendly that you could pet them, but if you fed them they would bow to you! Yes, bow! We had fun with this and really couldn’t believe how they were so obedient!

We also went to our favorite restaurant in this city. It was a sushi bar. Literally, you sat at the bar and the counter in front of you rotated around, past the customers and also past the chefs, bringing you the dish you ordered. You could order one type of plate and two sushi rolls came on it. Everything was very cheap (only about $1-3 for each plate depending on what you ordered). We had so many dishes and they were all so delicious! A few of my favorites were the California roll (the only place I found this at), the baked scallop roll, the red tuna roll, giant shrimp, and the baked eel roll.

We also loved the guest-house that we stayed at in this city. It was in the home of a Japanese family and the place was set up really fun. There were bookcases in the entrance room filled with travel books and magazines. Upstairs, there were private rooms (which we stayed in and slept on the floor with tons of comfy mattresses and blankets), rooms with bunk beds, and also Japanese-style rooms. The place was very comfy and homey and the owners were extremely nice and helpful. They were the ones that advised us to check out that restaurant that we ended up loving so much. They also gave us directions to the temples and shrines that we wanted to see the next day. The owners were also very organized and clean in that they had a good system set up with their visitors who stayed, including specific cleaning, recycling and sharing the shower. The place was also a coffee house. The next morning we ate the traditional porridge breakfast that is popular in Nara, and I also had a Thai tea, which seriously was probably the best that I’ve ever had. I love guest-houses because I always feel like you get to try amazing home-cooked meals, meet locals in the country you’re visiting and also meet other really cool travelers. We met a few people….a couple from Belgium and a young guy from Austria. It was fun sharing stories about traveling with them and hearing or giving advice about visiting Japan.

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Some things we saw while in Nara:

-Tons of deer walking the streets, parks, shopping centers, temples…everywhere!!
-Horyuji Temples (the world’s oldest wooden building and the oldest temple complex in Japan)
-The famous Todaji Temple (it was built to be the headquarters of all temples in Japan and it has the largest wooden building in the world!)
-Kofukuji Temple (famous for its 5-floor pagoda, it’s name means “Happiness-Producing Temple)
-Kasuga Taisha (famous Shinto shrine near the green woodlands; thousands of stone lanterns line the entrance to the shrine)
-Shin-Yakushiji Temple (outside the park, an eigth-century monument)
-Sarusawa Pond
-Wakakusa Hill (beautiful grassy hills with mountains in the back and with many deer; it’s near a few ponds with red bridges that reflect in the water (very picturesque)

We were only in Nara for that one day, and then we headed back to Osaka that night and stayed in a hotel near the airport. The next morning we were off in a plane back to our favorite lil island of Jeju-do.

It was an amazing trip for Japan Part 1! What surprised us was that by the end of our our trip the weather was more cool (fall weather) which made site-seeing easier, since we were traveling with our backpacks. So in a way, we were able to see Japan in the summer and fall season this trip. Next summer we hope to travel to Japan again, hopefully for another 12 or so days to see Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, a few more cities in that area, and also the northern part of Japan for their famous national parks. Can't wait as always for our next adventure!

Hope you enjoyed my travel stories about Japan!