The Ancient Capital

From Osaka we moved south east to the ancient capital city of Nara, only 45 minutes away by train. Often overlooked by the crowds rushing to nearby Kyoto, Nara is a lovely place to explore for a day or two. It turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in Japan. The only downside here was our choice of accommodation, UGAYA guesthouse. A seemingly decent place to stay until we realised how much they charged for luggage storage, how tiny the only shower was, and how un-private our private room was. Putting us virtually in a dorm with only a flimsy dividing wall inbetween was not ideal. If you choose this place you have been warned. That's the name and shame out of the way, onto the good stuff now...

We spent two days in Nara which was just about right to see the place. On our first day we concentrated on the Nara-Koen area, the huge park that takes up about half of the city centre. Within this are many World Heritage sights, hundreds of scavenging deer, and thousands of school children learning about their countries history. It's all easily accessible on foot and makes for a great days walk in the park.

We thouroughly enjoyed our time in Nara, it should be on everyone's Japanese itinerary

The main draw here is the Daibutsu-den hall situated in Todai-ji temple. This is the largest wooden building in the world and for me a better sight than anything Kyoto has to offer. Other temples and pagodas were also impressive and back in the centre of town there were plenty of nice cafes and restaurants to rest up in. All in all Nara is a very comfortable place to stay for a few days.

Day two and we headed for the quaint old streets of the Naramachi area, full of traditional Japanese housing and interesting little shops to browse through. This quiet neighbourhood is well worth a stroll and really gives you a better insight into the city than just ticking off all the major sights. With a lot more of Japan still to see we moved on to the tourist mecca of Kyoto. We thouroughly enjoyed our time in Nara, it should be on everyone's Japanese itinerary. Gary