Walking the streets of Seoul each day, we found the major tourist spots as well as some hidden treasures: small parks, alley restaurants, just the adventure it should be. Seoul really lends itself to this kind of wandering, and we found it all too easy to lose track of time.

Beneath Gwanghwamun Square is a vast museum honoring two great men in Korean history: King Sejong and Admiral Yi Su-shin. There were lot of interactive exhibits, informative displays, movies, a musical performance, and a cool replica of one of the admiral’s famous turtle ships. Our visit was followed up by a long walk along nearby Cheonggyecheon Stream, which runs across the top of town.

One of our favorite temples in Seoul was Jogyesa, of an order founded on the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. Their main practice is Seon (Zen) meditation. There are more than 3000 temples of this order in Korea. The centerpiece is the Daewungjeon, Main Dharma Hall,which houses big statues of Shakyamuni Buddha in the center, with the Medicine Buddha to his left (east) and Amitabha Buddha to his right (west). There were altars inside, and people placed mats both inside and outside to meditate, pray and take steps toward enlightenment. In the open courtyard there is a ten-storied octagonal stupa containing a relic of the Buddha brought by a Sri Lankan monk. There is also a bell pavilion, several other halls, and a couple of ancient trees. The Pagoda Tree is about 450 years old. It had an iv bottle coming out of it in one spot, and we guessed it might be getting an extra dose of vitamins. The other important tree is a 500+ year old rare Lacebark Pine with white bark.

At the Namsangol Hanok Folk Village, within a big park perfect for strolling, there are five reconstructed residences, including furniture and household goods, from families of different economic means. It was interesting to see them side by side. As usual here in Korea there were lots of interactive exhibits as well. At one, we met a man who used to live in Queens. He was a tourist info volunteer at the spot in the village where you could try your hand at a few traditional games. (He was very impressed with my arrow tossing and top-spinning.) He gave us a bunch if ideas on places to visit, and we had a really nice chat. Nearby Myeongdong was shop after shop with vendors filling in the gaps between. It was a good place to eat, too, so we grabbed a bite of mandu soup before waking over to the South Gate/Namdaemun market. This place was out of control! The vast quantity of merchandise was overwhelming, piled beside and on top of any available surface, with people pushing in from all sides to pick through and haggle. The majority was clothing items, but there were accessories and such as well, along with some very interesting street food.

Evening is a great time to take the cable car to the top of Mt. Namsan. Seoul N Tower is at the top, providing some great views of the twinkling city below. Similar to the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka, there were several “love lock” fences to solidify your wishes for a long-lasting, happy relationship.

We also devoted a whole day to the National Museum of Korea and its three floors of historical exhibits and artifacts. Surrounding the museum was a reflecting pond and pavilion, gardens, sculptures, and a great park, with paths, picnic areas, a playground and some nice exercise equipment. On the way home we were just in time for a traditional dance performance held in a kind of out of the way “culture plaza.” Fun! There are a couple of videos on the YouTube channel.

All of the photos from Seoul can also be found via the link at the bottom of the previous post.