I have been steeling up my courage for these last several days, scouring the guidebooks and planning my route for my first solo excursion outside the town I am staying in. My first plan was to go to Gongju, but that required buying bus tickets, finding the right bus before it pulls away, and figuring out when to get of the bus (if I could even make it that far). When I read up on Suwon, I knew that would be the place for my first day trip. It was accessible by metro, within walking distance of the station, and was sufficiently cool to merit a day out.
I got to Suwon without a mishap, and after a brief stop in the tourist information office, I ignored their kind advice rather kind advice and started on what they warned would be a 40 minute trek through the city. The walk was definitely worth it, and far superior to a bus ride, as I watched the city shift between the vibrant and the prosaic.
Much less than 40 minutes later, I stumbled upon the Fortress. Hwaseong Fortress was built in Suwon in the late 1700s just as Hwaeseong Haenggung, the palace within the fortress walls, was being built. This monumental project was undertaken as an attempt to move the capital from Seoul to Sewon, but it never happened. The buildings were completed but the capital stayed in Seoul.
Before I walked the fortress wall, I took a side trip to the palace. I arrived just in time to catch the end of a martial arts demonstration that was was being performed for swarms of tiny schoolchildren. Large gravel courtyards were surrounded by walls, and on the edges of each courtyard there were small buildings painted in a flower motif. Altogether the effect was rather plain. This was in part due to most of the buildings being closed, but a few in the back depicted life in Joseon Dynasty, complete with mannequins.
By the time I left the palace I was starving. I walked along a narrow road lined with small restaurants back towards the fortress wall, but it all seemed too intimidating! Just past the fortress wall, however, I found an unassuming cafe that seemed inviting enough. I lucked out because inside it was pretty and nicely decorated, and the small staff seemed very nice. I miraculously managed to order the lunch special off the Korean menu and was treated to a delicious meal.
After lunch, I started walking up up up up the steepest part of the fortress, straight up the mountain. Slightly unpleasant on a full stomach. Not even halfway up, I met Dominick, a young man from Malaysia. He seemed keen to walk together, and keener still to have me take pictures of him with his camera at every watch tower and gate. It was nice to have a break from solitude. A few kilometers and many pictures later we parted ways.
I continued along the entire 5.7 kilometer wall. In the time since the fortress was built, Suwon has expanded greatly beyond the wall and is now a city of almost 1 million people! The fortress wall is dotted with sentry points, massive decorative gates, and smaller secret gates. There was one guard tower that was open. I went inside the single door, and circled around the narrow stone hallway and up to the lookout level above. Finding myself alone up there, I turned around and dashed out, sufficiently creeped out.
At the end of the fortress wall you get spit out directly into a vast market. As I wandered the streets and alleyways, the market expanded with my every step. It was getting late though, and after a brief wander I reluctantly walked homewards.
I got to Suwon without a mishap, and after a brief stop in the tourist information office, I ignored their kind advice rather kind advice and started on what they warned would be a 40 minute trek through the city. The walk was definitely worth it, and far superior to a bus ride, as I watched the city shift between the vibrant and the prosaic.
Much less than 40 minutes later, I stumbled upon the Fortress. Hwaseong Fortress was built in Suwon in the late 1700s just as Hwaeseong Haenggung, the palace within the fortress walls, was being built. This monumental project was undertaken as an attempt to move the capital from Seoul to Sewon, but it never happened. The buildings were completed but the capital stayed in Seoul.
Before I walked the fortress wall, I took a side trip to the palace. I arrived just in time to catch the end of a martial arts demonstration that was was being performed for swarms of tiny schoolchildren. Large gravel courtyards were surrounded by walls, and on the edges of each courtyard there were small buildings painted in a flower motif. Altogether the effect was rather plain. This was in part due to most of the buildings being closed, but a few in the back depicted life in Joseon Dynasty, complete with mannequins.
By the time I left the palace I was starving. I walked along a narrow road lined with small restaurants back towards the fortress wall, but it all seemed too intimidating! Just past the fortress wall, however, I found an unassuming cafe that seemed inviting enough. I lucked out because inside it was pretty and nicely decorated, and the small staff seemed very nice. I miraculously managed to order the lunch special off the Korean menu and was treated to a delicious meal.
After lunch, I started walking up up up up the steepest part of the fortress, straight up the mountain. Slightly unpleasant on a full stomach. Not even halfway up, I met Dominick, a young man from Malaysia. He seemed keen to walk together, and keener still to have me take pictures of him with his camera at every watch tower and gate. It was nice to have a break from solitude. A few kilometers and many pictures later we parted ways.
I continued along the entire 5.7 kilometer wall. In the time since the fortress was built, Suwon has expanded greatly beyond the wall and is now a city of almost 1 million people! The fortress wall is dotted with sentry points, massive decorative gates, and smaller secret gates. There was one guard tower that was open. I went inside the single door, and circled around the narrow stone hallway and up to the lookout level above. Finding myself alone up there, I turned around and dashed out, sufficiently creeped out.
At the end of the fortress wall you get spit out directly into a vast market. As I wandered the streets and alleyways, the market expanded with my every step. It was getting late though, and after a brief wander I reluctantly walked homewards.
MEG. You are absolutely STUNNING.
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