Suwon, which markets itself as the happy city of filial piety, is an easy day trip from Seoul. You can get all the way there on the Seoul metro subway if you ride line #1 almost to the end. It’s far enough to feel like you’re out of the city, but Suwon itself is still pretty big. There are lots of regional offices and services, restaurants and shops here, but the town’s claim to fame is its fortress. The whole downtown area is surrounded by a high, fortress wall with turrets, lookouts, bastions and guardposts. The fortress was built in the late 1700s by a Joseon king, and is best known for the use of both brick and stones, the parts of it’s design that allow the fortification to work well both for defense against guns, cannons, spears arrows and swords and for the extensive records left behind about its construction.
There are four main gates, one facing in each cardinal direction. The gates are surrounded in front by a semi-circle made of bricks for added protection. There are also a number of minor, “secret” gates that allowed people and munitions through. Along the length of the wall, there are two high spots where catapults were placed, and two others for multiple arrow launchers. In times of peace, some of the structures were used as resting spots, and we made good use of them in this way too. The breeze was so refreshing up high, and you had to take your shoes off to go up on the hardwood floor, a treat for the feet. At one spot, we enjoyed a can of pine bud juice, which was much tastier than it may sound. The length of the walls is over 5 kilometers, and we walked them end to end.
About halfway around, we were able to try traditional Korean archery. They had targets set up at 30 meters, and after some brief instruction, we had 10 arrows each. It looks much easier than it is, and it was tough to get used to a different way to hold the bow and aim. Further along, we could see the palace far below, in the center of the walls and the modern city. The climb on the western side was steep, with tall stairs, but the older folks out for their afternoon constitutional, who seemed to constantly be catching up, really kept us moving! We stopped again almost at the opposite spot from where we’d started for an ice cold Cass beer and another rest.
Dinner was supposed to be beef ribs kalbi, a local specialty, but we chose the restaurant based on their logo, a strong looking cow and a much less prominently featured chicken. Oblivious to the Chick-Fil-A-style marketing technique, we went in and were surprised to find only chicken on the menu. It was very tasty anyway, and we stuffed ourselves silly before starting the long trip back to Seoul.
