Tampopo: Japan 2012

Nara is a small town about 35km from Kyoto and I leave it to you to have a look at Wikipedia and other sources to read the usual stuff. I had a great time in Nara and fell in love with the place, not only because of the hundreds of tame deer who roam Nara Park (don't think fences - they are free to go anywhere they like so they use to hang out in front of major tourist attractions where they will be fed with special deer crackers sold by numerous street vendors across town); not only because of the very manageable size (I pretty much walked throughout town in a single day, seeing most of the main sights and a few more) and the relative quietness, both with regards to number of tourists and traffic, in comparison with Kyoto; not only because of the pleasant accommodation, Ryokan Matsumae, and the wonderful host Naomi, who served the most magnificent breakfast; not only because of the slightly run-down Izakaya (the nearest thing to a pub in Japan - unless you find one of the thousands of Irish Pubs which infested the whole world, just like McDonalds) down the road from the Ryokan, its rustic food, the Oden simmering right behind the bar, and the very friendly guests who were chatting away with me, despite my lack of Japanese and only one of the guests being able to speak some English - the already well progressed consumption of Kirin beer and Nihonshu (referred to as 'Sake' outside of Japan, a term which in Japan describes any type of alcoholic beverage) might have helped; and not only because of the local sake brewery (Naomi will tell you where to find it) where I tasted some very fine Sake from Nara, but unfortunately due to luggage restrictions did not buy one of the little sake barrels, which was decorated with little deer. I fell in love with Nara because of all of these and I hope I will get a chance to go back, then hopefully for more than just two days.