After walking around a very modern and urban area of Seoul yesterday, we’re aiming for a bit more green today, and have planned to scale Namsan mountain and a couple of other parks on our way to the National Museum of Korea. It’s another beautiful sunny day, perfect for a long wander, and we set off early to fit in our programme.
The hill starts just behind our hotel, and after grabbing a snack and a hot coffee to warm our hands we get climbing. It’s a steep ascent right away, even just to get to the park gates, especially as we get a bit lost on the way, but we make it, and after a long flight of stairs, we get to a nice, undulating pedestrian path looping around the mountain. It’s a lovely stroll once we’re a bit more level, with a little stream gurgling by the side of the road, and surrounded by tall forest just coming out of winter. A few spots are already covered in lovely spring flowers, and along the way we find several small shrines and tall memorial plaques covered in Korean writing.
Turning a corner, we spot a temple hiding at the top of another flight of steep stairs. Curious, we make the small detour. The views aren’t as nice as we’d hoped but the little pavilion at the top of the flight is like a miniature of the ones we saw yesterday at the Gyeongbokgung: intricate, lacy green panelling and a vibrant multi-coloured roof.
Back on the main path, we snake along enjoying the walk for a bit until we need to turn off to head towards Seoul Tower, one of our planned stops. The iconic communication tower stands loftily above the city, but mostly thanks to its mountainous pedestal: it’s actually not that high! Unfortunately, that means we’ve got another long climb ahead of us, and as we puff our way through multiple flights of steps, we hope the view from the top will be worth it.
Just before reaching the esplanade at the foot of the tower, a few rest areas have been taken over by love locks - it seems this phenomenon isn’t confined to French or English bridges. These ones choke the railings next to a huge statue of a rubber duck covered in stickers - an incongruous sight amidst the trees. As we finally reach the top, there’s another few brightly-robed guards, spears at the ready - but they’re just for show and we pass unchallenged.
Seoul Tower looks taller from up close but we feel we’ve climbed enough today and indeed we get a nice panoramic view of the city from a terrace at its base - revealing the full scale of the capital. We’d gotten a few glimpses as we climbed, clueing us into the size of our current location, but it is truly massive: we can’t see the edges of the megacity spreading below us, no matter how high we get! While the various skyscrapers districts don’t have any tower as distinctive as Taipei 101, this feels on a different scale to the Taiwanese metropolis - one size bigger again.
After a quick snack to rest our aching calves we start on our way down, on the southern slopes of Namsan mountain. It’s a less well-defined trail this side, and we go halfway down on a vehicular road before finding a lightly maintained hiking path snaking through the barren trees. It’s a nice respite from the city as we finish our descent and we’re almost sad to get out of the forest - but as we land into a very different neighbourhood than we’ve seen so far, our interest is piqued.
It almost feels like we’re in a village here, with small, low houses clinging to still-steep streets - and all the restaurants appear to inspired by Europe or America. After passing the third French restaurant we admit we may be in the Western district - it looks quite cool though, and we wish we had time to stop for lunch. We still have a bit of a walk to the museum however, and we’ve planned to just grab some snacks as we go, which we find in our old friend 7-eleven, back with us since Taiwan after a gap through North Vietnam. No bento boxes this time but just a couple of onigiris which we’ll eat in the park.
As we get back to level streets, we find the reason for the Western influence in this area: a huge US army base sitting right next to the main road. We walk for a few hundred meters along its external wall towards our next park, which we can already see in the distance - but no such luck! It’s all part of the military complex, and we end up having to circle the entire thing: about an hour’s unpleasant detour between busy roads and blank fortifications. We’re thoroughly bored by the time we make it past, and our feet are aching after this monotonous slog on hard concrete, so it’s a real relief when we finally spot an entrance into the park. Luckily the weather’s held fast and we’ve at least been able to enjoy the sun while we trekked!
After wolfing down our lunch on the first available bench, we continue on a much more pleasant path through the greenery. The National Museum is spilling over into its neighbouring garden, and there’s quite a few sculptures scattered throughout the ground. The gallery itself is a grand, modern white building, nicely set above a large artificial pond. As we enter, the spaces are gorgeous: a huge dome over the entrance, wide airy central corridors, and plenty of natural light throughout the circulation spaces. Best of all: it’s completely free, which is a first for us on this trip!
We restrict ourselves to the exhibits about Korea’s geopolitical history, to avoid spending too long browsing, and we get a very comprehensive introduction to the country’s formation throughout the last few millennia. This is accompanied by various examples of the crafts and artistic production at the time - all interesting, although by the time we’ve reached more modern periods we’ve seen rather enough and are ready to head back.
Luckily there’s a metro straight back to our accommodations, so we don’t need to retrace our steps round the army base. Once back in Myeongdong, we head straight for an early dinner: we’ve found another affordable Michelin-recommended restaurant, right next to where we’re staying, and going outside of peak hours is our best chance of scoring a table. Indeed, for dinner at 5pm, we can walk straight in and order the only things on the menu: noodle soup and a side of dumplings.
It’s nice, warming fare, and you can tell that the noodles have been freshly handmade: the texture is amazing. The flavours however, are ever so slightly less impressive, although for the price we still get an amazing meal, and unlimited tea refills here too. Happily full, it’s finally time to get off our long-suffering feet after nearly 20,000 steps - time for a quiet evening, and maybe a bit of a rest day tomorrow!
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