While in Kyoto, we decided to take a day trip to Nara. Nara was the original capital city of Japan from 592-694. A lucky misunderstanding with Google Maps led us to visit the Heijkyu-seki Rekishi Koen, the Nara Palace Historical Park instead of the Nara Park when we first arrived. This park is located on the outskirts of the city, the site of the original palace and a place of festivals. We entered through its majestic South Gate which has completed its restoration process. It is an interesting archeological site that is currently undergoing a major restoration project. The cities’ goal is to reconstruct and conserve the history of Nara as a major site in Japanese history. Alastair found the detailed explanations about the traditional woodworking and temple building which they are doing their best to follow in the restoration project quite fascinating. The staff were very friendly despite a complete language barrier. There was a lovely large park to wander around and we were enjoying this and searching in vain for the famous Nara Forest and deer. After re-consulting google, we realized we were in the wrong Nara Park. Luckily the public transport in Japan is amazing and we were able to catch a local bus to our intended destination with relative efficiency.
The centrally located Nara Park has a famous Shinto the Kasugataisha Shrine, Todaiji Buddhist temple , the Mount Kasuga Primeval Forest and National Museum. One of the many tourist draws are the 1200 wild, but very tame deer living in the park, once thought to be messengers of God. They are known to be very friendly, as the tourist often feed them with deer food available from the vendors. We arrive too late in the day after our detour, to the kid’s disappointment all the deer food was all sold out. Seeing the park and shrine at dusk was special.
