When I made some research for the itinerary, I found out that many resources suggested to put Gyeongju to the itinerary. It said that Gyeongju is a city which has many cultural outdoor museums. Honestly I didn't understand what they meant after I visited this city and felt the beauty of "museum without walls". This city allows tourists to
step back in time, experience the beauty of the land and exquisite architecture, and view numerous relics
from the Unified Silla Dynasty.
Gyeongju is about 1 hour bus trip from Busan. We took the Kumho Buslines from Nopo bus terminal with fare 4500 KRW/person, and then do 10-minutes walk from Gyeongju express bus terminal to our guesthouse, Nahbi Guesthouse. The Nahbi's location is quite strategic, near to bus terminal, restaurants, bus stops, and 15-minutes walking to several tourist spot like Daereungwon Royal Tombs, Anapji Pond, Gyerim Forest, etc.
Sites "Museum without Walls" in Gyeongju :
Bulguksa Temple
Because we only stayed for 1 nights in Gyeongju, we started from the far tourist spot. We took the bus number 11 in front of Nahbi. We enjoyed the beauty of this city all the way. The bus passed Bomunho area which many luxury hotels facing the Bomunho Lake. We passed the Gyeongju World (entertainment center), Gyeongju World Culture Expo which has unique architectural design, and stopped in front of Bulguksa Temple. It has said that this temple is one of UNESCO heritage site, but for me who don't really like temple, this wasn't a special temple. I prefer the other one in Taejongdae. But this is one of Unesco heritage site, so 30-minutes visiting was better than none...
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| Bulguksa Temple |
Seokguram Grotto
We took the bus in front of Bulguksa to Seokguram Grotto. This bus' route was Bulguksa-Seokguram-Bulguksa. Fare was 1500 KRW/person/single trip. Entrance fee was 4000 KRW/person.
Seokguram is located at Mount Tohamsan, and also one of UNESCO
Heritage List in Korea. Prepare your energy to hike this mountain to the
top. Although there were stairs and proper road, but the altitude made
you breathing hard and summer heat made you sweating without stop. On
the top, we could enter a small temple with a big Buddha statue that
couldn't be taken by camera.
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| colorful lampions |
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| comfort track but still made you tired |
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| welcoming by temple |
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| view from parking lot |
We took the bus from Bulguksa to downtown and stopped this museum. This was a really museum (with walls and huge gardens), and it was free of charge :). One thing I liked from this museum was they had Kids Museums with many activities connected to Gyeongju culture. That was amazing ! Kiddos were get used to love museums from their early age.
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| huge gardens |
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| Kids Museum |
Banwolseong Fortress & Gyerim Forest
Down the street from Gyeongju Museum, we finally understood why Gyeongju was called "museum without walls". This was the best part of Gyeongju, outdoor historical sites located adjacent to each other, really looked like outdoor museum without partition..
The Wolseong Fortress originally was the location of the palace fortress during the Shilla Dynasty. Today the ruins of the palace, set among lush forests and hills, can still be visited and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Gyerim Forest is located in the same area.
I loved the outdoor atmosphere here, take photos among beautiful flowers with great background...
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| beautiful sunset |
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| with "beautiful" tombs in the background |
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| landscape..wow !! |
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| open 24 hours with proper lighting :) |
Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in East Asia. It is located beside the Wolseong Fortress. There weren't many things to do there, just took a picture of this unique observatory...
Daereungwon Royal Tombs
For once in my life, this is the first time I came to the cemetery as a tourist. This place, also known as Cheonmachong Tomb or Tumuli Park, is a cemetery which consist of large ancient tombs of kings and noblemen of the Silla Dynasty. This place really looked like beautiful garden rather than a cemetery :)
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| that beautiful "hill" is a tomb !! |
Our day in Gyeongju was closed by the best site to be visited at night. Perfect timing ! It's the Anapji Pond, an artificial pond which was a part of the palace complex of ancient Silla Dynasty. The pond was well maintained, supported with great lighting, made a perfect romantic place !!
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| pond with great lighting |
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| the full moon looked so small ... |
