Day 20 - 21 | Nara

11.1.2017 - 12.1.2017

The last stop on our journey was Nara. We got there early and left our bags at our Ryokan (traditional Japanese style hotel) to give ourselves a full day to explore the Nara deer park. The park itself is huge, consisting of park land, landscaped gardens, creeks, ponds, temples, shops, restaurants and forest. Over a thousand wild deer freely roam around the park grounds, and according to local folklore the deer in this area were considered sacred and are said to be to be messengers of the gods. They are now designated as a national treasure and are proctected because of this. The deer are surprisingly tame, although there are signs around the park that they can be aggressive if they think you will feed them. One of the deers tried to eat my map, even though it didn't have any food in my bag. After spending all day wandering around the deer park and patting and photographing all the deer, we relaxed in our Ryokan's Onsen after dinner. 

Our last day in Nara we got up early to wander through the park at first light, where only locals were in the park paying their respects at the shrines. We also visited the calligraphy museum, and the toy museum which we got to play with some of the Japanese mechanical toys that children used to enjoy playing with in the Edo period (1603 - 1868). After lunch we got the train back to Narita where we spent the night before flying home in the morning. What a great trip we had and I hope you have enjoyed following along with our adventure.

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