Day 29: Sakai – Nara

[post of Saturday 8^th of September 2012]

Lately we approach each stage somehow relaxed, and we keep going like that today too. We have some toasts with olive oil and miso soup for dinner, and we say goodbye to Nozomi. It’s always nice to go back to a friend’s house. We wish good luck to Nozomi, who is training for a competition of 20 km in the Japanese mountain. It’s not too bad for someone who doesn’t like to go fast like Nozomi.

We cycle fast through the 50 km toward Nara, the spiritual capital of Japan. Even thou we left late this morning, we get to the hotel by the early afternoon, so we have time to visit Nara Park.

Nara was the first capital of Japan. Then Kyoto became the capital, which was transferred again to Kamakura and, finally, to Tokyo. Nevertheless, Nara kept a stronghold of tradition from which the ecclesiastical power (above all Buddhism) tried to keep influencing politics as it did when Nara was the capital. That is why there are still a huge number of temples in Nara, together with pagodas and sanctuaries, among which there is the Great Todaiji with its huge statue of Buddha. Despite all this, like in Miyajima, it looks like tourists are more interested in the deer of the park than the amazing architecture in it.

We spend the whole evening in an enchanted place, under the soft light of the sun at the twilight. That’s also the best time in the day to visit the park, since tourists are leaving and you can really enjoy the fantastic setting of Nara Park. On our way back to the hotel, a member of the staff at the tourist office stops us to give us some leaflets in Spanish; he stuck some fake deer ears on us and takes a picture… yet another weird thing of this trip.

The worst part has still to come thou and, when we go back to our room, we realise that Gabriel’s sunglasses are not there. He will have to continue the journey with the normal glasses only, even if the strong sun is uncomfortable for his clear eyes… but also the normal glasses are gone! We search everywhere, unpack the saddlebags, go back to Nara Park… nothing. So we sadly go to the futon to sleep for the night.