I spent the whole day in Nara, arrive an hour late because I didn’t properly “guesstimated” how long it would take me to get there. Nara is similar to Kyoto but smaller. It has it’s share of National treasures and important cultural property. The main attraction to see there for me was the Daibutsuden, or the hall of the Buddha. This hall is the biggest wooden construction on earth and inside lies one of the biggest Buddha statues. At first sight it doesn’t look that big, but after I took some pictures from the side with people beside so we have a known shape to compare the size, it is very impressive to see. This temple is located in Nara Kouen, where 1200 deer roam freely and are most probably not malnourished since they are constantly being fed biscuits by the visitors all day long. It sometime gets scary when a pack of 10-15 deer is surrounding you when they know you have deer biscuits and the most “aggressive” ones even pulls your coat from behind to get your attention.
I visited a second temple that was 1 hour by bus from Nara Kouen and this site is was apparently the first to become a world heritage in Japan. I thought it was a real treat to see statues that were over 1500 years old. Unfortunately, to preserve their conditions, no pictures were allowed, and they are kept in the dark. We can only catch a glimpse of them with a flashlight.
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