I stayed at the Nara Hotel, which I had longed to visit! I was enchanted by the beautiful blend of Japanese and Western style! I first heard about the Nara Hotel six or seven years ago. My hairdresser, who always cuts my hair, told me that there is a beautiful classic hotel called the Nara Hotel in Nara Park. Since then, the Nara Hotel has been on my list of “hotels I would like to stay at. I was lucky enough to be able to stay there this time. The Nara Hotel is also featured in the “Izaza Izaza Nara” campaign commercial, in which Ryohei Suzuki walks up the red-carpeted grand staircase. The hotel was also featured in the first Shochiku movie “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” (Otoko wa Tsuraiyo). The Nara Hotel, also known as “Kansai’s Guest House,” was founded in 1909, and its 114-year history as a classic hotel has made it a favorite among overseas guests. The hotel’s 114-year history is steeped in tradition, and the guests who have visited the hotel in the past have included Charles Chaplin, Helen Keller, and Audrey Hepburn, to name a few. In the Taisho era (1912-1926), the physicist Dr. Einstein also visited the hotel! The piano that Dr. Einstein played at that time is on display in the lobby’s “Sakura-no-Ma” room. Nara Hotel has a main building and an annex, and the main building with 62 rooms has a classic atmosphere with the weight of a 100-year-old wooden building. There are two types of rooms, park side and town side, and each room is slightly different in size, with closets in different positions. The room we visited on the first floor of the main building is a corner room on the park side, so it has two windows with a view of greenery. It was 25.5m2 in size, and seemed much larger, perhaps thanks to the high 4.2m high coffered ceiling. On the other hand, the new wing, built in 1984 using the “Yoshino-ken” building method, has a total of 65 rooms. I stayed in the new wing this time, which faces a courtyard overflowing with greenery, and the view from the balcony was like being on a plateau. Even though it is a new building, the stately and relaxed atmosphere is as expected of the Nara Hotel!
Yamato Pork Shabu Shabu for dinner at a former residence in Naramachi For dinner, we went to Fukuden, a meat kaiseki restaurant a five-minute walk from Nara Hotel. From the moment you enter the restaurant through the noren (curtain), you can smell the delicious aroma of dashi broth! Here, we were served shabu-shabu with “Yamato pork,” a local Nara brand pork, and Yamato vegetables. The fresh Yamato vegetables and tender pork matched perfectly with the restaurant’s special broth. The sake went down a treat. I would definitely stop by again when I visit Nara.
© Source travel watch