Walking on through the quarter we came to the Gangoji temple. Behind the present temple is a very nice peaceful garden where there are the remains of a temple and pagoda from the 8th century.
Finally on the corner with a main road we found a café where we had some lunch. Walking on from there we came out at the Saruawa-ike pond again.
We then went in search of the gardens between the park and the Todaiji Temple. Going down a tiny narrow street we saw a very nice garden through an open gateway and went in a short way but felt it was not one of the gardens meant. At the end of the alleyway was a larger road and there we found both gardens next to each other.
We went into the first the and had a nice walk round. It was quite small but still had three definite areas, one of which was the ‘Moss Garden’.
As we came to the exit it began to rain again so we decided to take the bus back to the station. At that end of town it did not seem to have rained at all. The next train to Kyoto went in about 5 minutes and was a rapid one – not super rapid, but faster than the one in the morning. So we completed Nara having seen more than we set out to see. The 50 minute journey gave our feet time to recover a little.
This post is an extract of my mother’s travel journal written during a tour of Japan in 2014.
travel tales 