When you enter Nagano you will immediately be reminded that the city hosted the Winter Olympics in 1998. In the middle of the station there is a big plaque showing the symbol and sign of the Olympics. All kind of signs, and statues around the city still show the Olympic history of the city, something the city is still very proud of.
We remembered watching the Olympics on television (with lots of success for the Netherlands: 5 Gold medals, 4 Silver and 2 Bronze, giving us the 6th place in the medal count!), so it was extra special actually visiting the city ourselves.
Throughout the city the Olympic Stadia can still be seen, although some are not being used for sports any more. Unfortunately, they are quite scattered around the city, making them hard to access and mostly you are not allowed to enter. So, we were pleased to be able to see some of the stadia were the athletes competed from the bus, and recognize them from what we saw on television! If you want, you are able to ski on the same slopes and mountains that were used in the Olympic competition. But (since we both can't ski) we decided to skip that part..
 |
| Nagano 1998 commemorative sign in the Station |
 |
| Small scale model of the Olympic fire in the streets of Nagano |
The other famous attraction of Nagano was build long before the Olympic stadia, and dates back to the 7th century. This is when the Zenkoji temple was founded, a popular attraction in Nagano.
The entrance to the temple leads to a atmospheric street with many nice shops. We found the temple itself truly impressive to visit. It was still quite busy at the temple, probably because of the New Year prayers, but the temple complex it quite big so there were not so many crowds or queues. The extent and magnitude of the complex makes the temple really impressive. Apart from the mail hall there are several small buildings, a big gate, and various statues lined up on the complex. The scenery looks beautiful with the mountains of Nagano in the background, even though we arrived later in the afternoon when it was starting the get dark.
The entrance to the temple leads to a atmospheric street with many nice shops. We found the temple itself truly impressive to visit. It was still quite busy at the temple, probably because of the New Year prayers, but the temple complex it quite big so there were not so many crowds or queues. The extent and magnitude of the complex makes the temple really impressive. Apart from the mail hall there are several small buildings, a big gate, and various statues lined up on the complex. The scenery looks beautiful with the mountains of Nagano in the background, even though we arrived later in the afternoon when it was starting the get dark.
 |
| Street toward Zenkoji temple |
 |
| Zenkoji temple |
After a very busy day, were we travelled long and saw much we were very happy to get something to eat, warm up in our hotel room and get a good night rest, before we had to wake up early again next morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment