NARA. In the shadow of Kyoto.

Nara, Japan’s ancient capital, has long been in the shadow of Kyoto. Yet, it deserves the attention of tourists who are visiting Kyoto or Osaka. It predated all other cities in Japan. It’s a more intimate peep into the old Japan. From Kyoto or Osaka, Nara is a quick 40-minute train ride. It can be explored on a day and better seen on foot.

STOP SIGNS AROUND THE WORLD

I have always found stop signs fascinating! Even when I was a little girl in my hometown in Bulgaria! I still remember first time I saw it...I was in the car in front of my grandparent’s house and the sign was only a few meters away. I asked my parents what GTOR means. That’s how STOP would sound (well, kind of) when you only know how to read Cyrillic alphabet and you are 6 . We use Cyrillic alphabet in Bulgaria (comes from Bulgaria by the way!) but we have the regular STOP signs so no wonder a little girl who just learnt how to read found it difficult to understand. I remember my parents laughed a lot!

KYOTO IN COLOUR

Autumn in Kyoto

Kinkaku-Ji or Golden Pavilion

Kyoto is the Japan you may have imagined - magical temples and Zen gardens, colourful Shinto shrines and elegantly dressed geisha flitting between wooden tea houses. I read it somewhere: Kyoto is the Japan of the past and Japan of the imagination. And it is so true, I found here everything I had imagined I would see in Japan. It wasn´t Tokyo or Osaka that impressed me in Japan, it is Kyoto!