Suwon Hwaseong Fortress
My foot was finally healed enough to be able to walk more or less normally now, so we decided to visit Suwon a city about an hour south of Seoul that is home to Hwaseong Fortress, the walls of which surround the centre of the city.
We picked up a leaflet for the stamp tour and set off to find them all.
Paldalmun Gate
We started by catching a bus from Suwon station to the Paladlmun gate which sits in the middle of a busy roundabout.
A walking path following the wall around the city, was down one of the side streets. It quickly started going up the side of Mount Paldalsan
Seonamammun Gate
The next gate we reached was Seonamammun with its dragon ceiling.
We carried on up the mountainside past Hyowon Bell
Seojangdae
At the top of the small mountain was Seojandae, a pavillion overlooking the city.
Hwaseomun Gate
The wall then made it’s was down the other side of the hill towards Hwaseomun gate
Just a random view over the wall…
Janganmun Gate
At the north of the city was the large Janganmun gate
Hwahongmun Gate
A little further along was the water gate, Hwahongmun which protected the river access to the city.
Dongbukgongsimdon Post
We stopped at Dongbukgongsimdon Post for a cold mango smoothie
Changnyongmun Gate
Next to the post was another large gate. From here we followed the wall to the last two stamps and completed our loop of the fortress
We got a bus back to Suwon station were we then caught a train back to Seoul and had a short break at the hotel.
Lotte World Tower
For the evening, we decided to visit Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in Seoul.
We wanted to get there to see the sunset and luckily just made it in time. It was surprisingly hard to find the entrance to the observatory (it was in the basement), so we were starting to get worried, but we got to the top just as the sun was starting to drop behind the horizon.
We spent about an hour enjoying the changing view until it was fully dark and all the lights were on over the city
Gangnam
The tower was a couple of subway stops from Gangnam, so we went to have a quick look at the Starfield library
Outside was a Psy sculpture that would place Gangnam style if you walked near it!
