Gyeongbokgung
- Heike Panagoulias
- Dec 19, 2024
- 5 min read
I spent a long time thinking about how I could organize my South Korea blog. As I was there again with a friend about a year later, I didn't think a chronological order made much sense. I will mainly talk about the trip with Leon because the memories are so important to me and the time I was able to spend with him, but I will also include a lot from the other trip. That seems like a good option to me.
We had a lot planned for the first day. There were a few sights close together and we thought we'd just get started.
We slept in late as the time change didn't quite let us sleep as much as we wanted.
The location of our apartment was just perfect. We had the Gongdeog subway station right on our doorstep. And it wasn't just a small station, but a major hub. It was easy to get anywhere from here.
Leon was a master at reading Korean quickly! What luck. Taking the subway is very easy in Korea. You enter the station and follow the detailed signs.
Once on the platform, all the stations are displayed on a board in both directions. Not only in Korean, but also in English. Perhaps I will explain in more detail later how simple and uncomplicated the subway is.
We had to go to Gwanghwamun. This is a large square in front of the palace gates. Gwanghwamun is also the name of the palace gate.
The journey took just under half an hour on the subway. This again shows how big Seoul actually is. When I was there with Leon in 2022, there was a huge construction site here at Gwanghwamun Square. A year later, however, everything was finished and so great.
Among other things, there is a large monument to Yi Sun-Shin, the greatest hero and most brilliant military strategist of his time. And anyone who has seen “The King - Eternal Monarch” will certainly recognize the scene above immediately!
For anyone who missed the great KDrama, here's a short clip... You can watch it on Netflix, by the way.
We struggled a bit through the construction site towards the palace entrance, which was huge! Even building sites in Korea cannot be compared with ours. Here, there are mostly older ladies everywhere as “construction site helpers”. They help the truck driver to exit the construction site onto the road, look after the pedestrians who have to walk through the construction site and work on the construction sites. Green artificial turf is laid out for pedestrians so that they can easily walk through the construction site. You don't have to walk through dirt and grime or over wooden planks like we do here.
The next year, the square was beautiful with water features and statues, information and sights to see.
We crossed the large intersection and went straight to Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is the first and also the largest of the five palaces. The name means the “Palace of Radiant Bliss”. It was built by King Taejo, founder of the Joseon Dynasty. The size is simply incredible, the palace is around 400,000 m² in size with inner and outer areas. We didn't see everything, but we definitely wanted to see the Geunjeongjeon throne hall, the Gyeonghoeru banquet hall and the Hyangwonjeong pavilion in the middle of a lotus pond. It was simply fascinating. The decorations on the roofs, the underfloor heating, which was clever even back then, and the sheer size of the entire palace complex is breathtaking. The pictures speak for themselves
Please scroll through the pictures, you will understand what I mean...
Many tourists borrow traditional hanbok from the surrounding stores. This is the Korean traditional costume. It is considered one of the oldest traditional costumes in the world and is still worn today for special occasions, e.g. weddings and sixtieth birthdays. It is a wonderful sight to walk through the palace grounds and meet the many people in hanbok. Incidentally, it's not just tourists who enjoy it, the Koreans themselves do too. You see lots of couples and groups of young Koreans, who of course take countless selfies. I'll come back to the subject of selfies later!
By the way, if you go to the palace in a hanbok, you don't have to pay admission.
I didn't borrow one here until later on our trip when we were in Jeonju.
Here's a little preview:
I found the contrast between tradition and modernity in Seoul very impressive.
The palace is located in the middle of the metropolis of Seoul, but you only realize this when you turn around in the palace complex and look back towards the entrance. As soon as you enter the palace complex, you have the feeling that you have traveled back in time. The many people wearing a hanbok do not give you the impression that you are in the city center of a city with a population of 10 million.
I also found it interesting that in Asia the palaces are usually laid out in a rectangular or square shape, surrounded by a wall or a river. It's different here in Seoul. As far as I know, it is the only palace complex that does not have this accurate rectangular shape, but instead blends in with nature and makes use of the natural protective wall, e.g. mountains and rivers.
It was very impressive
You can easily spend several hours here. As you enter the palace complex, the National Palace Museum of Korea is immediately on your left. A visit here is also highly recommended! Art treasures and documents of the royal court as well as information that helps to understand history and culture, including politics, life, art and science of the Joseon Dynasty and the Korean Empire.
I was lucky enough to see the changing of the guard on both visits. Here is a small clip:
We made our way to the Hanok village of Bukchon in the late afternoon and we also wanted to visit the Namsan Tower.
The weather was good and we were full of energy. We checked Google Maps and Kakao Map for the best way to get there.
Kakao Map is the Korean answer to Google Maps. It's very easy to use, but sometimes I found it much better to enter the destination in Latin letters on Google Maps. We each simply opened an app and compared the results.
Incidentally, it's not just tourists who use a cell phone and an open map app. The people of Seoul themselves can't manage without one.
And so we first went to Hanok Village and then to the Namsan Tower...
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