Deers are the symbols of Nara, and according to the Shinto tradition and lore, Nara’s deers were the sacred messengers of the gods, and till today, Nara’s deers are considered national treasures. I am super hyped up for this trip to Nara because there are over a thousand deers roaming freely around the city and we can get up close to them! Oh, I really like deers a lot.
Since we had the JR Pass, we took the JR Yamatoji Lin from Namba Station down to Nara Station, which was 7 stops away. We reached Nara early at about 9:30am and started our journey by strolling down Sanjo-Dori street. There wasn’t much crowd but there also weren’t many shops opened along the way. We did manage to grab a coffee at a café instead of a mini-mart though.
Our first stop in Nara was Kōfukuji (興福寺), where we roamed around a bit, snapped a few photos, and did our prayers at the Nan'endō. We did not spend more time there as an admission ticket was required, and we did not felt like going in, so we continued on our journey.
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| Nan'endō |
Along our journey, we went, and we unexpectedly found ourselves at the Nara Food Festival, C’festa, at Noborioji Park. It was the glorious smell of food that filled the air that led us there. Otherwise, we would not have known that there was such a festival happening in the area.
A little background: C’festa is one of the larget gourmet food event held in Nara that aims to promote food ingredients produced in Nara Prefecture and encourage exchanges between chefs and producers.
C'festa was crowded with people and there were many choices of food and drinks available all around the event ground. Our first stop was at this stall that sells fresh carrot juice, and I just really have to emphasize this... FRESH CARROT JUICE. It was really fresh and thick carrot juice. Unlike any other carrot juice we drank before, this carrot juice is no where watery or tasteless. Every sip is filled with the strong smell and sweetness of the carrot. Simply just, wow.
Since it was lunch hour, almost every food stall had a queue. So, we decided to divide and conquer. Boyfriend queued for squid and takoyaki, and I queued for fried chicken. What’s next was a table to eat. Lucky for us, a nice local old couple saw us looking for a spot to eat so they offered to share their cocktail table with us, and that was how we ended up having our lunch together with them, where they shared with us their story and how much they love Nara. Heartwarming.
And of course, not forgetting a cup of freshly brewed crafted beer for boyfriend.
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| Belwood Beer - A wood-aged brown ale. |
After an awesomely fresh lunch, our next stop was Isui-en Garden (依水園), which we only made it until the ticketing booth as we decided not to head in due to time constraints. Maybe next time. But, from the entrance of Isui-en Garden to the ticketing booth, there was already a zen feel all around, so I'm pretty sure the zen feeling will be even stronger inside.
A short walk down from Isui-en Garden leads us to Tōdaiji (東大寺), which was so crowded. There seems to be some festival going on (I have no idea what though) because there weren't just tourists, but there were also a lot of locals making their prayers and young kids on school trips. Due to the crowd, we only managed to view Todaiji from the outside and shifted our attention to the deers roaming all around. There were so many of them!
Boyfriend got us the Shika Senbei (also known as the deer crackers) to feed the deers. We tried the bowing before giving them the Shika Senbei and they really did bow back! Wow. I wonder how and where they learned how to react to the bows. Such amazing creatures.
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| Nandaimon Gate (東大寺南大門) |
There were more deers at Nara Park (奈良公園) and lesser of a crowd, so the entire area was pretty much peaceful. There, we get to see deers “fighting” and chasing each other and for the first time, we heard deer calls. Wow. Oh, and of course, I was followed by some deers because I was holding on to the Shika Senbei, so I put those at the side of boyfriend’s bag, and they ended up following him. HAHAHA. He eventually found out what I did and fed the Shika Senbei to the deers. The following stopped. Sad. I thought they followed us not just because of the Shika Senbei. I was wrong. They went off to follow someone else holding the Shika Senbei.
Our last activity in Nara was to track up Mount Wakakusa (若草山), which cost us ¥150 admission fee each. There were also quite a number of deers roaming and climbing the steep hill at the base of Mount Wakakusa, and some people were just laying on the soft grass chilling. As the sun was setting, we quickly hike our way up to the top, which was really tiring for me (I weak). Luckily boyfriend pushed me through because when we reached the top, I felt so rewarded.
It was super peaceful up at Mount Wakakusa. The weather was great and the view was awesome, where we get the see the city of Nara from the top. There weren't much people at the top, but there was a couple taking their wedding photoshoot. I'm super amazed at how the bride managed to reach the top in her wedding gown. I found it so tedious tracking up in my outfit, and yet she is in a puffy wedding gown ok! HAHAHA. Salute!
Anyway, we really loved it up there so much that we stayed to watch the sunset and headed back down before we lose all daylight. Though, we weren’t the last ones to head down.
By the time we got back down to the base of Mount Wakakusa, there was no one at the base except the deers. Though, one particular deer followed closely next to us all the way to the exit even though we did not have Shika Senbei and was tugging our clothes lightly and crying out as we were approaching the turnstile. To be honest, we weren’t sure what that meant but we stopped and accompany it a little while more anyway. The evening sky was turning darker by the minute and that was a sign to tell us that we had to go as we have a long walk back to where we came from.
We stopped by Higashimuki Shopping Street and had our dinner at Udon Mugi no Kura (うどん むぎの蔵 ). We really needed something that is hot and soupy to warm ourselves up.
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| Udon Mugi no Kura (うどん むぎの蔵 ) |
Eating a hot bowl of udon soup in cold weather? Best.
Till we meet again, you will be deeply missed, Nara.
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