The Walled City

Monday was the last day of our long weekend so we made the most of it by heading out of town for the day (Have we mentioned that there really isn't a whole lot to do in Yeoju??) The day took us 1.5 hours out of our little city into the slighty larger one of Suwon (at 950,000 people, Suwon is the 8th largest city in Korea). In the late 1600's the military established a garrison here to protect the approaches to Seoul and with the intentions of moving the national capital from Seoul to Suwon, King Jeongjo (the 22nd Josen Dynasty King) had the fortress wall constructed. The wall itself is over 5 km in length and averages about 9 metres high. Along the length of the wall are 4 principle gates and numerous parapets, pavilions, towers, sentry positions, command posts, gun batteries, and 1 fire beacon site. The wall was the last and most modern of the great Joseon Dynasty fortresses and is considered a masterpiece of Korean construction. Although there were great plans for this city, the King died before he could see them through and the decision was made to keep Seoul the nations capital, however, Suwon is the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do (the province we live in, Seoul is also part of this province.) The Hwaseong Fortress (the proper title for the Suwon fortress) was designated a World Heritage Site in 1997. There is your history lesson for today. What, did you think this was all fun and games??

The attraction is you can walk along the entire wall and go inside the towers and such, at least that is what brought us to Suwon. As is the case lately, the weather was not cooperating with us and we cut the day slightly short. We only walked the North to South gates, taking us about 2 hours (the actual walk is shorter than this but when you stop to look, take pictures, and get out of the rain, it tends to take a little longer.) We plan to return to the fortress in the spring to walk the other side when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.


Of course it would not be an adventure if we didn't get lost and seek the aid of any English-speaking Koreans we could find. The bus system I'm sure is very efficient for the natives but when you have no idea, you really need help. Finally we decided on a cab to take us back to the bus terminal which was a good idea because as it turns our they changed the location of the main terminal but didn't bother to change it on any of the maps throughout the city. {You may be wondering how we made it to the fortress in the first place and it really is just a blur to us. I happened to be sitting next to a wonderful English speaker on the bus into Suwon who as soon as he found out where we were headed simply had to help us get there. We rushed out of the bus terminal (most Koreans are always in a hurry, unless you are and you are walking behind them) and rounded the corner to be put on a city bus with no idea of where we were or where we were going. Once again trust is a big thing. He got us to our destination, we just forgot to ask how to get back.}


We had about an hour and a bit to wait for our bus at the end of the day so we decided to have dinner at the (so called) famous BBQ restaurant (not even sure what it is called - there was not a lick of English on any of the signs.) We think there was only one thing in the menu (at least we didn't get a choice, a man came over, spoke in Korean, nodded and said okay, and dinner was brought to us) and it was pork ribs prepared sutbul galbi (the traditional way, over a charcoal brazier) right at the table. On the way out there was a giant chest freezer so you could self serve an ice cream cone (do we ever pass on ice cream?) Despite the rain, and the getting lost, the trip was well worth it. Another good thing about long weekends is short work weeks. Our explorations are going well and we can't wait to explore Seoul some more next week.