Nara with Wakakusayama
| Travel Reports by lordzubat | view profile of lordzubat |
|
| next post |
| Note: The opinions and views expressed in this user report are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of japan-guide.com. |
October 3, 2013 - Nara with Wakakusayama
Time for my first travel report from Japan. A bit "old" because I did not see the possibility to make a travel report until now. Anyway. Off to Nara we go!
As I have been here twice before I headed straight out east toward the temple area. Leaving from JR Nara station means a bit of more walking compared to the Kintetsu-Nara station. It meant no problem to me being fit for walking but it might be something to consider if your feet are tired.
A few minutes walking later I got to the Kofukuji temple grounds with it's lovely pagoda. At last I got to see some sun too. Unfortunately the central hall was undergoing some reconstruction work and was covered in gray but the nearby resthouse made a good place for a quick rest.
More walking, past the Nara National Museum into the Nara Park area eventually seeing a lots of the famous deer of Nara spread across the park and walkways.
Speaking of deer. I must really recommend buying a couple of "shika senbei", deer cookies. Be warned though, they will be swarming around you once the cookieladies crack the cookies open as a sign of deer-"itadakimasu!", or maybe "shikadakimasu!".
Further east you reach the smaller road that goes to Kasuga Taisha shrine. The road feels much calmer than those closer to the busy roads prior to this. The forests and nature around is a great experience and good way to be reliefed of stress, especially if comming directly from Osaka downtown.
Eventually arrived at the Kasuga Taisha shrine. Unfortuantely this too was undergoing repairwork and had some scaffolding over some buildings, however they had painted the look of the building as it would look after repair.
After visiting Kasuga Taisha shrine I turned and went north toward Wakakusayama which is open for visitors during this time of the year but closed during the summer months.
At the food of the Wakakusayama hill stopped for a quick rest until entering the area past the south entrance gate, paying the fee of 150 yen. Then starting the climb toward the top.
The first part of the climb was by paved stairs.
About 30 minutes of walking and quick resting took me to the "first top" of the hill. Here was an intersection to the walkway to the north entrance gate.
The climbing continued on an unpaved pathway further up the hills.
Yet another 30 minutes of so of climbing I finally reached the top located at 342 meters above sea level. Fortunately there was a rest area with benches and even a toilet a stones throw away from there.
I took a long rest on one of the benches on the mountain top before eventually heading back down the path toward the entrance gates again. This time however I decided to take the path to the north gate instead encountering deers a bit more shy than the more curious ones down by all the tourists.
After exiting the north gate at the foot of the hill some 30 minutes later I kept walking north to the Nigatsudo building east of Todaji temple where I could enjoy a lovely sunset view before heading back to the JR Nara station.
|
| next post |
|
List of Posts:
2015/10/22 - Off the beaten path: Kagoshima to Osumi-peninsula 2015/10/21 - Kaimon-dake, reaching for heaven 2015/10/17 - Nightly adventures, night train from Izumo to Tokyo 2013/10/04 - Finding Ponyo in Tomo-no-Ura 2013/10/03 - Nara with Wakakusayama |
