Japan 🇯🇵 - Day 42, 43 & 44 - Nara

I got to Nara just after 4pm, and was greeted with a gorgeous rainbow over the station buildings.

The train was just a classic regional train, though it felt more like a metro, just longer and overground.

It was a fairly short ride, barely an hour from Yamashina, with one change in Kyoto central station.

Before I get into the actual stuff I did, I need to say I was a bit disappointed by Nara, so I don't have much to talk about. This will be much shorter than the last post.

I found Nara had a very industrial city vibe to it, lacking the charm of a more traditional-ish city like Kyoto, or the liveliness of a proper big city like Tokyo.
Everything I found online about Nara was centred around the deer and the Park, but I didn't find the park very nice.

Maybe I didn't look in the right places, or didn't find the right information to guide me to the interesting spots, but that's the opinion I have based on my experience of Nara.

Enough introduction, let's get to the actual content.

When I got to Nara, I went straight to the accommodation I'd booked for the 2 nights. The name of the place was Guesthouse Komachi, and it was a very nice guesthouse.

The shoes had to come off at the entrance of the building in good Japanese fashion, and the floor almost everywhere was a sort of tatami.

Check in and out was all automated, so you just fill in your info to find your booking on the tablet at the front desk. There was someone there when I arrived, but from what I understand, there isn't really a full-time receptionist.

The room was very cozy, with a mattress on the floor and another one right above which you climb up to with a very steep stair case. Opposite the beds was a little desk, again in Japanese style so the chairs didn't have any legs, so you're basically sitting on the floor on a cushion with a backrest. It's not as uncomfortable as it sounds, but it does strain the legs a bit — again, these things aren't built for people my height.

I went for a little wander about the park right before sunset—I say little, I was out for a solid 3 hours.

I didn't enjoy the park very much, but I must say the traditional buildings made for great pictures with the setting sun.

Before taking a night bus for Tokyo, I had lunch in a restaurant that luckily had a menu in english. The food came super fast as always.

The bus left at 21.25. Let me tell you, it was not a pleasant experience. I don't know whether it was because I had barely any leg room or if it was the excitement of taking a night bus to the legendary Tokyo, but I barely slept a wink.