WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN NARA: ONE DAY BETWEEN TEMPLES AND DEER

If you want to know the things to see and do in Nara and how to get there, here we tell you about our experience: Kofukuji Temple, Todaiji Temple, Kasuga Taisha Shrine and much more

If Bambi marked your childhood like that of many other children (who are not so young now and we touch or exceed 30 ...), you will understand that the city of Nara is special. Ok it was capital of Japan, back in 710, and that has some of the most beautiful and important temples in the country... but here you send them, Nara's hungry deer!

Because this is their home for hundreds of years and because, according to popular culture, they have to be treated as divine beings. If you are born again in medieval Japan and without wanting to run over one with your cart, it would probably cost you your head ... at least it was until 1637. After World War II Nara deer went down a step, if they were messengers of the gods to be treated as national heritage ... not bad either.

In the Nara park is where the more than 1,200 copies of this precious animal, and there are also stalls the old ladies and old ladies who sell the cookies that drive the deer crazy. Buy one and you will see how in less than a second you will find yourself surrounded and without escape ... we have attended authentic cases of panic! Well, actually it was a poor boy who got scared (and normal!) For having 5 or 6 hairy and dying beasts cutting off his escape routes. In case the flies, at the entrance to the park a beautiful poster explains the dangers of these animals, that we do not forget that they are wild and you never know how they can react ... but come on they are very cute! The only danger we saw was that you ate the map, or worse ... the JR Pass!

Leaving the bichejos aside, in Nara you can visit very good temples and especially beautiful and important places. Many of them date from the time when Nara was the capital (710-784) and have been declared a World Heritage Site (the so-called "Historical Monuments of the ancient Nara"). Walking you can make a tour of a couple of hours to visit the best. Most of them are in Nara Park, so it won't cost you much to find them ... We who saw them were in this order:

• Kofukuji Temple: dates from the seventh century and highlights its 5-story pagoda, the second highest in Japan.
• Western style mansion that we don't remember well what it is but that many old people drew
• Todaiji Temple: the star of Nara. This Buddhist temple dates from the year 750 approx and was built to shelter the largest Buddha statue in the country. Today it can be found inside the main building (Daibutsu-den). The statue has a size of 15 meters and the building is neither more nor less than the largest wooden structure in the world, and that now is a third smaller than the original. The entrance to the enclosure is made through the impressive Nakamon gate.
• Nigatsu-do atrium: The best of this place are the views of the park and of everything Nara and the rest room where you can have a free tea and chat with other travelers.
• Kasuga Taisha Shrine: one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan and that stands out for its interior lanterns and the surrounding environment.

Kofukuji Temple

Todaiji Temple

Nigatsu-do atrium

Along the way they go other minor temples and beautiful landscapes, especially in sakura time. In Nara there are many temples, shrines and buildings that are worth a visit, such as the Heijo Palace, on the other side of the city, the primitive forest of Kasugayama, south of the Kasuga Taisha temple, and the horyuji temple, which must be impressive, but located outside Nara, in Ikaruga.

Do you know more stuff what to see and do in Nara?