Bicycle: 78 km
Train: 62 km
Average Speed: 18.8 km/h
Total ascent: 214 m
Riding Time: 4:09 h
Weather: Cloudy, 8C
I didn't have a specific plan layed out for today, so in absence of that I decided yesterday evening to do the "easy thing" and just ride along the KeiNaWa cycling route to inner Nara prefecture (somewhere), leave the bicycle there to pick up tomorrow for a ride from there. I have riden already multiple times on this cycling route. From Kyoto to Kizu it is very straightforward, always along the river on a separate cycling route. Later on it get's a bit more "complicated" and although in general it is very well indicated, every now and then the route seems to disappear. But I had found a GPX file online that retraced the route quite well. I didn't actually take any pictures before coming to Nara, where I simply passed by the Heijo palace, a vast archeological site (that I visited before). It is probably a sacrilege to not visit again... but I didn't.
During the ride I decided I decided to get to Yamato-Yagi, which seemed to be a very convenient transport point back to Kyoto. I have stayed already several times in that area, and like it. Plus Imaicho (which is an old city center within Yamato Yagi) is always nice. It is one of the view villages that are still mainly intact with old houses and seems still to be in normal use. There is a little bit of tourism ongoing here, but very low key. Which is crazy. There are so many tourists flocking to Takayama or to Magome/Tsumago (which are out of the way to reach for most of them), to see a bit of "traditional Japan"... but most of those same tourists stay in Kyoto (or Osaka) and totally ignore Imaicho, and the villages around, such as Asuka, which are an extremly easy day trip.
After a spin through the old part, I went to a super sento in the area. And what an area, your typical grotesque super sento area, somewhere sandwiched between a major road, a construction site and a chemical plant... but once you are inside you don't see or hear any of this and can find total relax. They had one of those "pool" where to lie on the ground on stones heated by hot water running slowing down. You are not actually lying in the water, but kind of on top of it on the hot stones. My favorite!
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