Nara

Nara was founded as a capital city in 710CE. It is famous for many historical Buddhist temples, as well as a large park, Nara Koen, in the center of the city. The park is full of hundreds of disgusting smelly pooping sacred deer, to whom tourists are encouraged to feed 'deer cookies'. The sacred deer follow tourists around the temple grounds begging for cookies. Not my favorite part of the trip.


Todai Temple is an incredible site with busloads of tourists and many spiritual pilgrims. Within Todai-ji is Daibutsu-ji, the largest wooden structure in the world, which contains a 15-meter tall statue of Buddah. The body of the statue was reconstructed in 1185, and the 5.3-meter-high head was rebuilt in 1692. At 15 meters, it is the largest gilt-bronze statue in the world.







Kofuku-ji's five-story pagoda is viewed as a symbol of Nara. It was part of the temple of the ruling family clan of Japan during Nara's reign as capital. The temple was built around 669CE. That's old.