Day 31: Heiburi (Nara) – Izumi (Osaka) 52km

I woke up a few times during the night, slightly cold, and it was even colder outside when I went to the bathroom early in the morning.  I was hoping that maybe the heat had finished with that last storm.  Wrong, still really hot again this morning.

We’d stayed at a michi-no-eki not far  from central Nara, but we’d read that to see all that we wanted to see in Nara would take more than a single day, assuming that Nara was something worth seeing properly we decided to see a little today, and see more after the weekend.  The michi-no-eki wasn’t far from one of the main attractions of Nara, Houryu-ji, a 1300 year-old wooden temple (the oldest wooden structure in the world, apparently).

We’ve learnt that parking at any attraction is expensive in a car, but free on a bike, so after seeing that it was only about 5km away, we left the car at the michi-no-eki and went on bike.  Although it was only 5km, it took in excess of 15 minutes due to the traffic (coming back was even worse).

I’d already read in Lonely Planet that entrance was going to be ¥1000, which I think is a little expensive and nearly put me off going (and Risa had already been
before on a high school excursion, so must have been worse for her).

At first it was nice, wide open spaces with ancient wooden buildings… and then the we started to notice the elementary school students… and they just didn’t stop coming.  Hundreds of them, honestly, hundreds.  And, it wasn’t just elementary school kids, there were students of all ages coming, as well as giant tour groups.  We were in a (rushing) swarm of tourists, quickly walking their way through the sights.

To be brutally honest, I kinda felt like I’d wasted a little of my time/money coming here.  While I appreciate it technically for surviving not only 1300 years of natural disasters, but also 1300 years of human conflicts.  It’s just aesthetically it was … bland, and I’ve felt the same way about most temples after seeing the amazing temples in Nikko.  It wasn’t just the design/colours, but it was also the surroundings.  Nikko is in the mountains, surrounded by giant/ancient pine trees, Horyu-ji is surrounded by houses/roads/souvenir shops.  Just being in the grounds in Nikko feels amazing, I can’t say the same about today.

Inside the buildings were some equally old wooden/clay/bronze Buddhas that were in amazing condition all things considered, though it was hard to appreciate with a constant stream of tourists pushing through to see it all on their strict timelines.

We walked about the grounds for a while, but it was bare gravel/paving on a blazingly hot day.  No respite from the Sun, and we’d just decided we’d had enough.

Before leaving, Risa had a look at some of the restaurants/souvenir shops that lined the main street.  She found something that was a local speciality, kuzukiri, made from a plant called kuzu.  It was basically a flavourless, gelatinous substance that had been cut into thin/wide noodle shapes.  You then dip these cold noodles into a burnt sugary sauce and enjoy.  It was pretty good/refreshing.  I’d recommend it.

We went for a quick ride around the area on the bike, having a look at another few smaller temples, as well as the small alleys (and their buildings) before heading back to get the Delica and head for Osaka.  It was mid-afternoon, and I wanted to get to tonight’s michi-no-eki nice and early, as I had a feeling that it was going to be busy with the big festival this weekend.  I’m glad that we left when we did, because even though it wasn’t far in distance, the roads were so slow.  It felt like we were barely moving.

As we were driving, I noticed a strange tower, which was in the direction that we were heading.  It kept getting bigger and weirder.  It reminded me of some of the Gaudi buildings in Barcelona, something that some of the locals are sure to consider an eye-sore.  We were quite near, so we tried to drive up to investigate it.  Took a few (failed) attempts to get to it, but Risa did a little research and found out that it was built by a semi-religious group called ‘Perfect Liberty’ to remember all the people, from all races/religions who have died in war.  She also found out that only the bottom two levels are open to public.  We were happy enough with the view that we got, and left.

We arrived at tonight’s michi-no-eki and it was no more busy than normal.  My paranoia was un-founded.  We were hot, sweaty, sticky and in need of a bath.  But, there was nothing even remotely in the area.  Since we didn’t have a choice, we had to make the 20 minute drive to have a ¥410 sento.  If you wanted to use the onsen you had to pay an extra ¥290.  To check that you weren’t in the wrong area, they made us wear a pink wrist-band.  I thought it would be clever to rip it off so I could use the outdoor onsen, but luckily I didn’t as you have to hand a key back in (and then they cut the band off your wrist).  It was a lot of effort, but feels damn good to be clean.

３１日目：平郡（奈良県）ー　和泉（大阪府）５２km

ひさびさのピーカン晴れ！でも朝起きた瞬間から２５℃超えはキツい、、、

本日は、軽い奈良観光。明日のだんじりに備え今日は、ローエナジーで行きま〜す。

法隆寺が道の駅からそう遠くない所にあったので、スクターで法隆寺を目指す。　ここへ来たのは、高２の秋かぁ、、、もうだいぶ昔のような気がするけど、まだ１０年までは経ってないんだ。　色々な記憶がよみがえる。

高校生、小学生、おじいさん、おばあさん。あらゆる世代のあらゆる集団が絶え間なくおとづれる。　高校の時に来た時は、長年教科書で見ていたので、実物を見た時は、かなり感動が大きかったのを覚えている。大人になり、自分で入場料１０００円を払って入ったらもっと感動するかなとおもったけど、暑さでバテていたせいもあってか、あんまり感動しなかった。なんか残念だなぁ、、、けど、１４００年の古さってやっぱりすごいなあとしみじみ関心させられました。

法隆寺境内をくまなく観察し、外にでるとくずきり屋などのお店が建ち並ぶ。ロス君は、まだ食べた事がないのでトライしてみることに。　私も久々のくずきり。　正直ちょっとくろみつがくどすぎて途中で飽きてきた。ロスも同じだったみたい。　けど、ふだんあんまり本物のくずを食べる事はないし、うれしかった。

くずきりを食べてちょっと休憩した後は、法隆寺の周辺をカブで移動。この辺りは、外の県のまちでみた歴史のある場所よりもずっと歴史がある、それが何の看板もなくフツーの生活があたりまえに営まれている。すごいなぁ。この辺の家主さんたちはきっと、ずっとご先祖様がここに住んでる歴史のある家なんだろなぁなどなど思いをはせる。

２人ともだいぶ日光の攻撃を受けカナリ弱ってきたところで、いい時間になり、岸和田近くの道の駅を目指す事に。

途中、富田林（とんだばやし）という町で、（そいえば、晋平が昔住んでた町だ！）なんじゃこりりゃ〜！！な白いくてかなりデカイ（たぶんテレビ塔位はある）　まるでガウディの建築物のような何とも奇怪なタワーを発見。どうしても素通りできず、近くまで行ってみることに。

少し歩くも残念ながら入り口は、かなり遠くにあるらしい。存在が気になり過ぎてi-phoneで調べてみると、どうやらこれは、あの甲子園常連校で有名なＰＬ学園のＰＬ教（パーフェクトリバティー教）のものらしい。　これは、国、人種すべてを超越して世界中の戦争戦没者の為の平和を願う“大平和祈願塔”（実は、もっと長い正式名書があるらしいが忘れた）　なるほど〜。ガイドブックには載ってない意外な名所かもね。

賑やかな町をいくつか通り過ぎ、だいたい９０分程で到着。暑さでダルダル。料理をする気になれず、今日はコンビニの冷たいおうどんが晩ごはん。そして残念なことに近くに温泉も銭湯もないので、３０分ほど離れたスーパー銭湯へ。こんなにお風呂が遠いのは、久々不便だなぁ。しかも名所でもないし。

露天風呂も込みは、６２０円。内風呂のみは、４２０円。別にちょっとキレイめの普通のスーパー銭湯なので内風呂だけでいいや。

気分もスッキリ☆　明日は、いよいよ岸和田だんじり祭りだー！！

行った事ある友達は、口をそろえて気をつけろよ。って言ってるので、気をつけます。そんなにカゲキなのかしらぁ〜？

それでは、今日は早めに寝ま〜す。（もちろんデクスターは見るよ♥）

ぐっな〜い☆☆