The old (and first) capital of Japan, Nara, is only 50 minutes away on a JR line that I can ride free with my rail pass, so it’s ideal for a day trip.

I arrived around 11 and walked up to the main park, following the tracks of my Lonely Planet guide, with so many other tourists. More Europeans here, but still the overoveroverwhelming majority is Japanese.

The sun was out, and Nara is a beautiful, prim and proper little town, basically dominated by its parks and temples and shrines. Some little shopping arcades with souvenirs, and, further afield, nice ‘normal’ japanese shops invite for a stroll.

Still, Lonely Planet indicated my walk would take about five hours, so I better got going.

To make it short, it’s beautiful. But I have temple overload syndrome now… Again, hundreds of pictures were taken of temples, roof tops, seals, dragons, demons, figurines, flowers, pagodas, and deer.

Deer? Yes, Sika deer, which are regarded as messengers of the gods in the Shinto religion, roam the grounds freely and expect to be fed! You can buy deer cookies for 150 ¥. And you better, because they mean business.

I had my little tourist map eaten, that was poking out of my back pocket! I felt a nudge, then saw it slowly munching away on my plan. I tried to convince him that it might not be such a good idea to eat the ink, but he didn’t let go. Well, I’m not gonna get into an argument with a deer…. The kids had great fun though, the animals are so used to being touched and poked, they are really friendly.

Several Japanese gardens invite you for a tea or a stroll. Moss seems to grow in abundance, you could only walk on the stones ‘to protect the moss’.

The most impressive structure is the Tōdai-ji Buddhist Temple, that houses the biggest Buddha bronze statue in the world, in the work’s largest wooden structure.

The Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden) has been rebuilt twice after fire, the last time in 1709. It is immense, 57 m long and 50 m wide, but actually 30% smaller than its predecessor. Two pagodas of each 100 m height to the left and right were lost in earthquakes.

The Buddha himself has some enormous proportions: 15 m high, weighing 500 tons. The Buddha nearly bankrupted Japan’s economy, consuming most of the available bronze of the time.

The kids are supposed to crawl through a hole in one of the wooden pillars, which is believed to bring good luck and enlightenment to them.

It’s a serene sight. If not for the Japanese pop music playing outside, where they seem to have held a children’s talent competition, with groups either singing, or jumping or breakdancing to the latest J-Pop or the Jackson 5. Cute as pie.

I followed the path uphill, saw more temples, had some food, but then really had to call it a day. I made a shortcut and skipped a few temples, shrines and probably a couple of marvelous wonders, but it was late afternoon and I was knocked out. I can only take so much every day, and fell nearly asleep on my train ride back. Oh had I only seen those rickshas earlier…