Namsan Seonggwak Course
Last Sunday we took part in a tour to Namsan tower. We were really well received by our guide, Mr Kim who unveiled Namsan for us.
We explored the park just in front of the exit 6 of the Dongguk station (line 3), a symbol of Korean resistance to Japanese colonization; Jangchungdan Park (장충단 공원) .
You can find there the Jangchungdan Memorial Stone erected in memory of the Empress Myeongseong. This stone honors those who found death by trying to protect the Empress from the Japanese. You can find too Supyogyo Bridge which was built in the 15th century over the Cheonggyecheon river. It’s in 1959 that the bridge was moved to Jangchungdong Park due to the reconstruction of the Cheonggyecheon River then.
Jangchungdan Memorial Stone
Supyogyo Bridge
We continued the tour with Seoul Fortress Wall (City wall). Seoul City Wall, built centuries ago in order to protect the town from foreign enemies, surrounds all the city of Seoul. It’s really interesting to see how the fortress was constituted back then. You must not forget that at the time, workers used no other resources than their hands to work; it’s even more an impressive sight when you keep that in mind.
This city wall first erected in 1395 is on the list of UNESCO monuments, a must to see!
If you pay attention to the different stones composing the wall you’ll remark they are sometimes dissimilar; it’s because the construction took a lot of time, stretching over several generations.
After going through Patriot An Jung Geun Memorial Hall, near the National Theater of Korea, we took a bus to reach the top of Namsan Mountain. If you have a few minutes to spare, I think it could be interesting to go take a look there, to see the Declaration of Independence after the Japanese colonization (don’t be tricked by the Korean one in front of you when you arrive there, you can actually find the English version of the declaration on the other side of the memorial) before continuing to the top of Namsan. The bus stop is like 30 seconds away from the memorial, so you know what to do if you ever have to wait for the next one.
The sight that the top of Namsan holds is really breathtaking; you can see all Seoul City from there, Namsan being the geographical center of the city. If you go on top of Namsan tower you can even see North Korea when the weather is favorable.
We finished the day with a Korean royal meal, at the Bulgogi Brothers restaurant, in Myeongdong. The restaurant is located on the first floor of a building. The scenery there is really sober, refined, chic and the music a real plus! If you like blues, jazz you have to come enjoy it there while eating a complete and traditional meal. We ate Wang Galbitang (literally, the King’s galbitang), a really delicious and copious meal! For all of the eat lovers out there, you can’t pass on this, really. To be honest, all of us had trouble when it came to finish because the portion was so huge ~ (deliciously huge).
This was a really interesting tour, our guide Mr Kim really was funny and explained to us a lot of things which made the tour even more interesting and enjoyable. So if you have the opportunity, don’t pass out a tour. And finish it to the Bulgogi Brothers; a historic meal for a historic visit ~
(French version coming soon)