After a 2-and-a-half hours trip by bus I arrived finally in Nara. The city was already very awake at 10:00. Many tourists already invaded the deer park. It was a wonderful autumnal sunny day over an authentic japanese city.
The first thing that I noticed and I was impressed by were the deers. They are everywhere in the city center, free, running eager to the tourists that have the special biscuits for them. It’s really funny to see the show: tourists afraid of the deers, they throw away the biscuits and start to run or make circles around other people, trying to get rid of the animals. I preferred to not buy any biscuit, so I was not interesting at all for them.
The entrance in the park itself is free, BUT the entrance to the temples costs around 500-600 yen (4-5 euro) and there are MANY of them. If you visit 10 of the temples in the park (and these are not all, there are many), you already paid 50 euro, this without the souvenirs. I expected to find in Nara a very spiritual city, but what I saw (after a few hours of walking, so probably my opinion is not accurate) is a very profitable business. Maybe it’s because of the great weather, which brings a lot of tourists, which create crowds and discomfort. I plan tomorrow morning to make a round early in the morning, before the crowds come and see how it feels then. I really hope for some tranquility and good energy that together recharge me for another year of work. I don’t know, maybe it sounds stupid?!?
Below some of the temples and shrines:
A highlight in the city is the great Buddha:
The 100 years house is free to visit. It seems that this house belongs to some rich people and they earn enough with a shop that they have nearby and there is no need for them to charge for the entrance.
The tree in the last photo is the favorite tree of the rich people – it’s name is in English translation “the tree of rich people”.
When I arrived at the hostel, I was so fortunate to find a great person that is the host. She has such a good mood, a very enjoyable person, willing to give local advices, but also tell stories and explain facts about Japan and japanese people. She was so patient with my poor Japanese and even corrected me when I made mistakes. We went together for dinner, had some beer with delicious Okonomiyaki and Omlett Soba.
