On the fourth day, I had nothing planned but visiting Osaka Castle Park and having lunch at Fujiya1935, a 3 star Michelin restaurant. I made an impromptu decision to check out Nara too, which is another city, famed for their deer park.
To get to Osaka Castle, I took the subway to Morinomiya Station. I’m not very sure which is the best station to access Osaka Castle Park, because the whole park is pretty big and there are several stations near different ends of the park.
This park was kind of like the Central Park in New York, but smaller. Other than the Osaka Castle, there are other attractions in the park like the Japanese Garden and such.
To get to Osaka Castle, we had to climb a bit. Simply follow the crowd and you’ll get there.
An entrance fee is chargeable for getting inside the castle. I didn’t find it necessary hence I didn’t go in. Admiring the castle from the outside is sufficient.
In real life, it was quite beautiful. It’s worth a visit if you are in Osaka.
Osaka Castle
１-１ Osakajo, Chuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 540-0002, Japan
After Osaka Castle, my next “attraction” was lunch at Fujiya1935. It was a 15 – 20 mins walk away. You can read more about it here.
After Fujiya1935, the next stop was Nara. To get to Nara, we took the Kintestu Line. Do note that there are express trains and some of them skip many stations to get to Nara and this is a big time saver. The cost is the same as local trains. The arrivals of the trains are reflected on the timetable at the station and normally it is very accurate.
At Nara, deers are everywhere and that’s what they are most famous for.
That’s pretty much it for Nara. The deers are rather intelligent and are definitely used to human presence. There was a particular young deer that was sporting enough to play ‘catching’ with a little boy.
I even spotted a deer camping near the stall selling food, so that when a human buys some to feed the deers, they’ll be the first to get it.
There was even one who knew how to cross the road safely! Some people were jaywalking before the light turned green but the deer did not. It waited until the green man appeared and slowly crossed the road.
登大路町 Nara, Nara Prefecture 630-8213, Japan
Since we were already this far off Osaka, we decided to have dinner at Nara. According to the Michelin guide, there are good restaurants around Shinomiya, which is 1 train stop away from Nara station. I didn’t make reservations because it was a last minute decision to visit Nara. I found my way to Wa Yamamura, a 3 starred restaurant, but sadly they turned us down as they were full for the night. The backup plan was a 1 star restaurant called Kappou Kitada and luckily they were not full. You can read more about my experience here.
After the meal, we took the most rapid train back to Nanba. The restaurant was located really near the station, so it’s quite convenient.
So that’s about it for day 4. It was a day of parks and good food in 2 cities!
Hungry Bird 