My 7 Wonders of South Korea (2019 Version)
- Jan 20, 2019
- 3 min read
Okay, time for my 7 wonders of South Korea, remembering that this is just MY opinion of my trip to South Korea and will not be applicable to everyone and I am sure if I do a return trip anytime soon it will change because I will do other thing so in no particular order here they are........(I am not including Seoul as this had a category of it's own and I probably should have done the same for Busan because I loved it there but gives me a good excuse to come back and do a 7 wonders of Busan)
1/ Food and drink -I was in food heaven while in South Korea, every meal even the simplest noodle dish had me salivating. I loved the banchan (side dishes) the kimchi, the soups and sauces, the snacks and street food. I loved the sweet potato lattes, soju and makegoli. I loved honey bread (how could honey and bread be so damned good?) I loved the family style meals and shared plates, metal chopsticks and eating rice with spoons. Fried chicken, tteokbokki and kimbap- can I say how much I loved these foods? There are still so many foods I want to try and I am looking forward to the next South Korean culinary adventure. (Because this and my number one for my 7 Wonders of Seoul cross-over both I put one here and one on that list)
2/ UN Memorial Cemetery in Busan. Simple, poignant, heart-wrenching and heart-warming. It is a very tranquil place honoring those that were lost in a battle that was anything but. This place, as simple as it was had a profound effect on me and I was very touched by the people that we met there.
3/ Haedong Yonggungsa Temple This temple had the most magnificent setting and was definitely a highlight of my time in Busan. (Busan as a whole was amazing, more relaxed than Seoul with great beaches and a holiday vibe and I could probably make the city itself as one of the wonders but as I'm restricting myself to 7- I am cheating by adding it here.)
4/ Suwon Fortress-(it's a technicality as it is a 'suburb of Seoul so could be in the 7 wonders of Seoul but I think they like to stand alone as their own city) Even if it has gone through a little reconstruction with age, war and redevelopment it is an amazing structure and we were lucky to have a wonderful day to wander around it.
5/ DMZ Even though we missed out on a part of the tour, this was an amazing place to see. There is a surreal moment when you look across the border and see North Korea spread out before you and you wonder if someone is looking from the other side with the same curiosity that we do. It's also hard to fathom that this whole place at any moment could become a war-zone as technically North and South Korea are still in a truce from the War days.
6/ Jeonju was beautiful and so different from Seoul. I loved the feel of this place and even though we only ventured around the hanok village and didn't see much more of this city what I did see what spectacular, and I look forward to the opportunity of coming back and seeing some more of this very pretty city.
7/ Seroaksan it was wonderful to get out of the city and into nature and this was a magnificent spot to be in, even in the middle of winter when a lot of the trees were bare, and it just inspires me to come back in different seasons to see how beautiful it would look then.
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