Gyeongju - Exploring the “Museum Without Walls”
When you program your destination into your Korea car’s GPS, it tells you the total cost of tolls for the trip and to “check the balance of your hi pass account.” The car has a slot that stores the hi pass card and includes a button that says the card’s balance - in Korean. Before we started our drive, it was simple to load more at 7-11.
We
were on our way to Gyeongju by way of Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto. The
drive took about two hours and in hindsight, I wish we left a little earlier.
We’ve been pretty spoiled so far by having almost everywhere mostly to
ourselves and by 10:30am, Korea’s most famous temple had enough people to
detract from the experience.
Bulguksa
Temple (free, open 9am) and nearby Seokguram Grotto (free) – together form a
UNESCO religious complex from the 8th century. Some would argue it is the best
temple complex in Korea.
When
I asked the temple's information desk how to get to the Seokguram Grotto, assuming we didn’t have a car, she said we
have two options: waiting for the public bus or walking an hour. For us, it was
a 15-minute drive to the top of the mountain.
The Seokguram Grotto is 3km away and contains a monumental statue (11.5 ft tall) of the Buddha. (Photo: Korea.net)
Consider
that the grotto might be skippable: after walking for 15 minutes from the
parking lot, you find the statue behind glass and no pictures are allowed.
However, it’s worth it if you want to take only memories.
Gyeongju, the “museum without walls,” is a gem of rich history, culture, and natural beauty. Gyeongju was the capital during the Silla dynasty which reigned for almost 1000 years from 57BC until 935AD. At that time, it was the fourth largest city in the world, comparable to Constantinople and Xian. You could easily see all the sights in Gyeongju on a day trip to from Seoul via the 2 1/2-hour high-speed train. We walked around to all the sights; other popular ways to get around are by bike or golf carts.
One
of the first things you’ll notice when driving around Gyeongju are all the huge
tombs resembling mounds of grass. They belong to the monarchs and royal family
members of Silla between the late 4th century and the 6th century.
Today,
the center of Gyeongju is occupied by a cluster of huge tombs.
We are staying in a hanok - the traditional housing - conveniently located right on Hwangnidan Street. Every other door is either a drink cafe, small food booth or restaurant, photo studio, or shop selling Sanrio and BT21 character trinkets - making it particularly popular with Korea’s younger generation.
Hwangnidan Street is home
to numerous restaurants, cafes, photo studios, and shops housed in traditional
hanok buildings.
These
popular “sweet potato fries” were - simply put - gross. Made from a dough,
fried, and coated with a spicy seasoning, they are a chewy consistency like
taffy.
From
the 7th century, Cheomseongdae is the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia.
Albeit small, it is symbolic and impressive!
Woljeonggyo Bridge is the largest wooden bridge in Korea.
Believe
it when you read the advice to go to Donggung Palace / Wolji Pond at night. We
arrived 30 minutes before sunset and everything
looked plain. “Aaaaghh!” the patient crowd waiting in the light rain exclaimed
in unison when the lights came on. The view was easily the highlight of my day.
Having
a car came in real handy tonight to get us to the pond and dinner. There is a
monsoon headed towards Japan and eastern Korea is getting rain as it moves
northward.
I wasn't at all impressed with the restaurant options in Gyeongju. We settled on expensively small pizza with bitty beers.
We are sleeping on the floor again tonight but this time we expected as much from our stay in a hanok. What caught us off guard was the beanbag pillow. “I wish the pillow wasn’t so crappy,” said Chris.
Comments
Post a Comment