April 4th
Upon arriving in South Korea, I was finally reunited with my bestie Margaux, who will be travelling with us for the next six weeks!!
She so kindly brought back my little camera — the one that had broken literally the day before we left — which finally got repaired after six months. AND she brought Gruyère cheese!! Something I never imagined I would miss so much from Switzerland. haha
A truly wonderful reunion.
April 5th
For our first day we visited the National Museum of Korea, a great way to start our journey through the country with a more educated perspective.
We ended the day with a tasty dinner (and a bite of cheese!).
April 6th
In the morning, we visited the Kimchikan Museum. It was a really fun and interactive experience — we had a great time and even got to taste different types of kimchi (naturally fermented cabbage with lots of garlic, ginger, and chili).
Since we didn’t have much else planned, we walked around Seoul and enjoyed the good weather and tasty food.
In the evening, we had some excellent Vietnamese pho.
April 7th
Our original plan was to visit Deoksugung Palace for a free guided tour and to see the guard changing ceremony. But unfortunately, we hadn’t checked in advance and realised that most museums were closed on Mondays. Still, we had a lovely day wandering around the city and eventually walking up to the N Seoul Tower.
It was a beautiful walk, and we even saw the beginnings of cherry blossoms starting to bloom.
In the evening, my dad joined us in Itaewon, where we had some unexpectedly delicious Ethiopian food at “Mama Ethiopian Cuisine” — something we didn’t expect to find in Seoul!
After feasting, we walked around the main street of Itaewon and enjoyed some ice cream.
.
April 8th
We had a roughly 5-hour drive ahead as we made our way to Gyeongju. The drive went smoothly, and we saw beautiful views of the Korean countryside along the way.
We arrived at our traditional hanok hotel, and I loved how the whole place looked.
The entire village kept the same traditional style — it actually reminded me of the chalet-filled villages in the Swiss mountains!
On our way to the famous Woljeonggyo Bridge, we passed plenty of beautiful cafés and restaurants, and even glimpsed the tumulus tombs and Cheomseongdae (the oldest observatory in Asia).
For dinner, we enjoyed an excellent meal at a restaurant right next to our hotel. The before and after was impressive haha.
April 9th
We made our way to Bulguksa Temple, and were absolutely amazed. The cherry blossoms in the park were overwhelmingly beautiful, and the temple itself was stunning. An excellent way to start the day.
Afterwards, we visited the Gyeongju National Museum — a lovely, perfectly short and sweet museum.
We then had lunch at Gyochon Sambeangnyeonjip, a lovely Korean restaurant.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing and taking a nice last walk in Gyeongju.
.
April 10th
We left in the morning to drive just north of Andong, where we visited Dosan Seowon, a Confucian academy. It was a very scholarly place. Luckily, the horrendous forest fires that were raging three weeks before in the area spared this old school.
Later, we arrived at our hostel for the night, knowing there was a café on site — but to our surprise, it was actually not a standard one but a cat café!
Isa was delighted, but Sam and Dad were not, as they’re both allergic.
April 11th
After loading up the car, we made our way to Hahoe Folk Village — it was magical. We felt like we were walking back in time, surrounded by traditional homes and cherry blossom trees. We were lucky with our timing.
After one of the most delicious lunches in the village, we had a long drive ahead of us back to Seoul.
April 12th
Since we were back in Seoul, we decided to finally visit Deoksugung Palace — but again, our luck ran out. The weather was terrible, and the tour guide informed us they don’t do the guard changing ceremony on Mondays or Saturdays!
Still, we enjoyed our visit. The guided tour was lovely, and afterwards we joined a tour in the Seokjojeon Museum, where we got to see how the building looked in the past.
April 13th–16th
After a two and a half hour fast train, we arrived at the southern port city of Busan. We spent most of our time in Busan just relaxing and walking around, as the past few days had been quite hectic.
Aside from visiting the Jagalchi Fish Market…
and the Gamcheon Culture Village…
we mostly took it easy and enjoyed our last bits of South Korean food.
My dad especially wanted to thank the kind lady who helped him navigate the process of getting a Korean medical subscription.
It was a small gesture, but one that perfectly reflected the warmth and friendliness we consistently experienced throughout our time in Korea.
April 17th
We checked out of our hotel and headed to the ferry terminal. Originally, we planned to drop off our luggage and visit a museum, since our boarding wasn’t supposed to be until around 4 PM, giving us five hours to relax.
Unfortunately, when we arrived, we learned that the PanStar Ferry — the very nice one we were meant to take to Osaka — had been cancelled. Worse, there were no other ferries heading to Osaka either.
In the end, we were rerouted onto the Camellia Line, which took us to Fukuoka instead. It was a very long trek, but made easier by the excellent organisation of the Pan Star team who put us on a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka.
Bonus pictures:
next post:
Leave a Reply