Since coming to South Korea, I haven't written one of my more traditional sightseeing blog posts because I didn't really have the material for it. I've been out and about on weekends, getting to know the city of Seoul, but I didn't really have enough to actually write a proper blog post. However, my friends and I took our first big trip out of the city last weekend, so the time has finally come!
Before I dive into that, here are some photos from exploring in Seoul for the previous several weeks:
At Gyeongbokgung Palace in February
NSeoul Tower and Namsan Love Locks in February
Foggy view from NSeoul Tower
Cheonggyechon Stream
Yeouido Hangang Park
Pagoda in the National Museum of Korea
Seoul City Wall
Another view of Seoul City Wall
Ihwa Mural Village
COEX Starfield Library
Lanterns at Bongeunsa Temple
At Bongeunsa temple
Lanterns in Itaewon
Cherry blossoms in bloom at Anyangcheon Ecological Park
Posing with the cherry blossoms!
I continue to be very happy here. I always suspected that I would be really suited to city living, and living in Seoul has confirmed that suspicion. But I digress; on to our day trip!
Anyone on this blog knows how much I love to travel, so I often read travel articles, which is how I stumbled on "10 Quick Weekend Trips You Can Take from Seoul." I took note of most of them, one of which was Nami Island. The article said Nami Island is "famous for its tree-lined pathways" and that it's "beautiful during any season." I read in a different article that it was also a great place to see cherry blossoms, so I thought April would be a great time to check it out.
I found a tour online that included a few hours on Nami Island, as well as stops at a botanical garden called the Garden of Morning Calm, a ride on the Gapyeong Rail Bike, and a visit to Petite France. Transportation and entry to all four things was included in the $75 price tag, which I thought was a great bargain. My friends agreed, so I made a booking for 8 of us at once, hoping that would ensure basically a private tour in our own van or minibus—which worked, so we basically had our own chauffeur for the day.
The morning got off to a bit of a rough start, because I had told everyone that our tour guide was picking us up at the Dongdaemun subway stop, not realizing that there were two of them and I should have said the Dongdaemun History and Culture Center subway stop. Thankfully they are near each other, so once we fixed that little issue, we set off for our big day. And by "set off," I mean our driver immediately gunned it through every green light even while we were still in the city, easily clocking 65 mph at one point, so I knew we were in for an interesting day. He kept up an absolutely frantic driving pace for the entire day, as if we were going to be late to everything—which was only funny because he bought our entry tickets to all four attractions only once we arrived. So what was the hurry, you ask? I still have no idea, but it certainly was hilarious.
Our first stop was the Garden of Morning Calm, a botanical garden and arboretum housing 5,000 species of plants. The tulips and cherry blossoms were in bloom at the same time, and the whole garden was breathtaking.
Millennium Juniper, which is supposedly 1,000 years old
Tulips in the Sunken Garden
View of the Sunken Garden from above
Tulips on the Road to Heaven
The Pond Garden
Pond Garden from the other side
We were at the garden for a little over an hour before getting back in the van to go to our next stop, the Gapyeong Rail Bike. Set on old train tracks, the rail bike path runs a little under four miles and crosses the Han river along the way. As an added bonus, the train tracks are lined with cherry blossom trees, so the ride was absolutely lovely—and also a lot of fun.
Group shot taken by our tour guide
Group selfie
Pedaling under the cherry blossoms
Our tour guide told us we better make sure to split up Peter and Josh because we needed a man to help us (He was incorrect.)
Crossing the Han River
Through the cherry blossoms and jasmine on the way back
The rail bike took a little over an hour, including a break at the halfway point, and that felt like exactly enough time. I think if it was much longer, it would've started to feel like a workout, but it was short enough that it was just fun.
Our next stop was finally Nami Island. The island is in the Han River, so we took a quick 5 minute ferry over and immediately made a beeline for lunch, because it was 2:30pm at this point and some of us were starting to get hangry. I wanted to try dak galbi, which is a famous spicy stir-fried chicken dish that originated in the area around Nami Island. However, only one restaurant on the island served it and there was a wait to be seated, so we ended up eating elsewhere. I had pasta carbonara in a bread bowl instead and enjoyed every bite.
After lunch, we had time to explore the island. Nami Island is known for being the famous setting of a K-drama called Winter Sonata, which apparently filmed on this stunning tree-lined lane of tall and ancient metasequoias. A lot of the island is geared towards children/families, as they have a mini-amusement park area as well as peacocks and ostriches. I can't tell you exactly what I was expecting, but I was slightly underwhelmed by Nami Island. It was definitely nice but I wouldn't hurry to go back again and again. The trees genuinely were lovely though, so that was definitely a highlight.
Central Korean Pine Tree Lane
More cherry blossoms in bloom!
The deservedly famous Metasequoia Lane
Posing with the Nami Island sign
Nami Island ferry
Our fourth and final stop of the day was Petite France, a fake French-style village themed around the famous French novel, The Little Prince. When I read Petite France was included in the tour, I admittedly thought it was weird. I had noticed that Koreans love anything having to do with France (which I think is related to their love of things romantic and sophisticated), but still thought it was odd that they had a theme park dedicated to it.
Well, I can honestly say it was even weirder than I expected. We got there very late in the day, so not many people were there, and all of the daytime performances, i.e. marionette shows and such, were over, so it felt like walking around a ghost town or maybe a movie set. Also, having been to France, I can't say I even really thought it looked anything like it. It did have some colorful buildings and a tiny gold replica of the Eiffel Tower, though. All of us were totally bewildered by it, and between the overall strangeness of Petite France and the fact that our tour guide literally almost got into a car accident on our way in, I couldn't stop laughing for most of the time we were there.
Petite France
Mini Eiffel Tower
Petite France was a freakshow but I am admittedly obsessed with flowers so at least there was that
The ride back to Seoul took a few hours and we also hit some traffic, so we were out and about for more than 12 hours. It was a really fun, action-packed day though and was a total bargain for the price we paid.
We have another trip coming up at the end of this month: a weekend in Sokcho, which is on the east coast of South Korea, to go to the beach and explore a nearby national park, so another post should be forthcoming sometime soon!
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