Life of the Mayers: Japan: Nara- A Deer and Temple Wonderland!

Another day, and another train ride to use our fantastic Japan Rail Passes.

Today we ventured only an hour from Osaka to Nara, the original capital city of Japan.

Train ride views

Nara is absolutely beautiful! It can easily be done in a whole day, but we spent about 5 hours here catching the main highlights. Honestly, the highlight of the city IS the city, and just walking around its expanse.

Nara signage: Too cute!

Please make sure that you spend plenty of time exploring Nara Park; it is huge an absolutely filled with hundred of extremely friend deer, as well as thousands of little "temples" and monuments. There is not much to say other than you will love this beautiful and quiet city, and is well worth the day trip. You won't need more than a single day here to explore everything, and that includes transporting in at the beginning and out at the end of the day.

We had such a fun time walking around and viewing, and being chased around by, the local deer, who are EVERYWHERE. Adam also spoiled us, and the deer, by purchasing “deer cookies”. The deer actually get quite aggressive and head-butt and bite if you are not attentive enough, or they don’t feel that they are done being served by you. I had a good sized bruise on my right thigh where the same deer bit me, TWICE. Also, one of the interesting things is that the deer have been trained to bow, and will bow if you bow to them, in order to receive the cookie. It was really cute to watch.

Enjoy the sights: