We flew from Kaohsiung / Taiwan, to Seoul / South Korea which is the last destination of our busy East Asia trip. It is late April. An extremely different climate from Taiwan’s above 30 degrees Celcius hot weathe meets us. Seoul’s climate is almost the same with Turkey. More or less similar due to its location: whilst Turkey is located on 36-42 in the north parallel, Seoul is located on 38 nort parallel. At first glance, Seoul has attracted our attention as a well-developed, metropolitan city; just seeing the airport and the roads is enough to have this notion. It is much different than other Asian countries; it is more western style, more modern as well as a very well planned city.

I also want to share this detail: There is an application you give your fingerprint during the passport control at the airport and this application assistant speaks with you in your mother-tongue. At the very first minute, it is a very pleasant surprise while entering the country. This is a small but an important sign for their approach to tourism and hospitality.

South Korea’s 10 million of population out of 50 million lives in Seoul. This is a big city, but due to its well planned structure and very well connected transportation network, you don’t see abnormal crowds like other Asian countries. The transport system is quite advanced. There are a lot of subway lines but it is a bit complicated. There are multiple trains operating for the same line. Some are express trains that does not stop at every stop, some are normal lines. It is not easy to understand it at first especially in Korean language. You could make a few mistakes in order to understand this subject like we did. Additionally, subways have many exits/entrances (sometimes more than 10-15). Sometimes the directories are a little misleading. In short the subway system operates very well, but for a western tourist we can say it’s more complicated than many other countries.

Vertical architecture is preferred due to high population. The city generally consists of two main districts: gangnam and handei. Gangnam is the posh, luxury and expensive district. You could remember the name from the South Korean international hit Gangnam style, this hit named after this district. They even created a stage where you can perform gangnam style dance in the middle of gangnam. We had the chance to show our figures in this stage:)

First of all, there are so many things to see and experience in Seoul. After the trip we concluded that our 3.5day trip to Seoul was just an exploration and we should come back again.

Let’s talk about attractions in Seoul: 

Gyeongbokgung Palace: It was built in 1395 by the Joseon Dynasty (the ruling years of the Joseon dynasty, 1392-1910) as the main palace. Then it has become the political and economic center of the country. In 1592, it has been completely destroyed in the fire caused by the Japanese attacks, and it has remained in ruins for 270 years. After that, it has gone through renovation. As avery pleasent surprise we come across a traditional festival  named royal culture festival. Due to the festival celebrations, there are numerous South Koreans as well as tourists in their colorful traditional Korean dresses. I think we’ve taken a lot of pictures with them 🙂 We took a lot of pictures and we have captured very nice shots. Here are some photos from the palace:

Entrance fee: 3000 won per person (ie 2.5 EUR per person)

Buchon Hanok Village: It is located in the east of Gyeongbokgung Palace in a walking distance. This is a must do attraction that you can see the traditional Korean houses and the traditional village atmosphere, as well as very beautiful views of the city. There are also a Gahoe Folk Art Museum, where you can make picture sketches, Gugak Sarang where you can learn Korean traditional musical instruments and various art galleries. We took a lot of pictures of people in traditional dresses thanks to Royal Festival.

The War Memorial of Korea: Whenever I meet with a Korean, as soon as they learn that I am a Turk, they started to treat me like their brother. That’s why I always had a sympathy over the South Koreans. This mutual sympathy between Turks and South Koreans is started with Turkey’s participation in the Korean War and it solidified through the good communication between the local population and turkish army during the period turkish army stayed in South Korea thats why turkish army is the ones who stayed longest in South Korea to quarantee the peace. And after seeing the war memorial we all have came to better understanding of this. The Turkey has sent land army to Korea and Turkish soldiers fought against Chinese and North Koreans in the land border with US troops. Almost all of the other countries contributed with their naval forces. The Turkish army is also the longest remaining army in Korea. (Clear information will be written here). Therefore, this War memorial is very special for us. It has been built in a large area. There are flags of all countries participating in the war. We are happy and proud to see this memorial where the flag of our country fluctuates.

There is also a very sad statue depicting the dramatic story of two brothers meeting in North Korea and South Korea on the battlefield. The sculpture represents peace, love and forgiveness. The crack part of the statue represents the border between North Korea and South Korea and also represents for the hope of unity in the future.

Bongeunsa Temple: The temple of Bongeungsa is a Buddhist temple with 1200 years of history located in the Samseoung-dong area. The calm and tranquil atmosphere of the Buddhist temples with its scent of flowers and incense often gives a great peace of mind. Even in the very center of the city, as soon as you enter Bongeungsa temple, this peaceful atmosphere catches you. Too many people are visiting the temple for worship and prayer daily.

There is also a very nice program where you can experience templelife. We couldn’t make it because we didn’t have the information before we visited the temple. The name of the program is “Templestay”. Templestay is a short program where you can experience the traditional Korean Buddhism culture. It costs 70,000 won per person, that is, around 60 Eur. It is actually a 2-day tour that covers 1 night stay at the temple. They organize it Every Saturday & Sunday. You need to make a reservation in advance. You can learn more from this link:

Myeong-dong: This is one of Seoul’s shopping streets. It is especially a heaven for a cosmetics. You will understand how much Korean women are into makeup and personal care when you visit this street. Here you can observe how much they buy and use skin care products. In Asian countries bright and pale skin is seen as attractive therefore those brightnening skincare and makeup products are very popular. It’s really hard to see a woman in the street without makeup. There are advertisements of cosmetic products everywhere. As a matter of fact, they have numerous good quality brands in skincare and makeup. Here you understand the concept of “Korean Beauty” is real. In short, you will find a long street full of cosmetic shops. Some of them may be the brands you see for the first time. This is a region that definitely attracts the ones who are into personal care and makeup. There are also places where you can enjoy a variety of street food along the street. You can spent one evening here enjoying shopping and street food. We highly recommend 🙂 Just remember it is so crowded!

Insa-dong: Insa-dong is a beautiful district where you can discover trendy cafes, small restaurants and small shops. It’s a bit touristy, but you can also see a lot of young Koreans hang out here. One of the most surprising things for us was the rate of female / male population intensity. In almost all cafes, 80% of guests are women. I think either men were working (because it was working hours) or women like to hang out more with women 🙂

Samsung D’light store: This is Samsung’s new technology and development showcase store. I would definitely recommend to those who are especially interested in technology. Starting with the first minute you entered the store till the last moment they offer you the best personalized experience I’ve ever seen. As soon as you enter, they get your information and take your photo and give you a wristband that has your personal information. From this moment on, you will be greeted with your pictures on the billboards of the store. And after that, it continues to personalize everything you’ve experienced in the store. At last it sends you all these experiences by e-mail. I’ve never had such a well designed experience, including Amazon’s Go store in New York.

After experiencing the most popular Samsung products, you can also buy them from the Samsung store. The prices are not very different from the internet prices, but you can still buy something as a memory.

National Museum of Korea: A very beautiful and big museum. We spent 2 hours, but we could not visit the third floor. My advice is to spend half a day here. Because there are too many things to see.

Interesting for us:

• Seul is much more developed city than we expected. Even we can say, it is more developed than most of the Western European cities.
• Seul has a very well connected subway but frankly saying it is the most complicated one that we have ever seen.
• Man and women are very interested in their personal care and makeup and they look more attractive than all the other Asians.
• ready for high-tech WCs here. Multiple butons and control panel on the closet. There are even hot water and ventilator :))

Try these flavours:

• Korean BBQ: Of course,  Try in a few different places. We ate 3 times, the experiences were all very different. In some places they cook and prepare it for you. You can get different experiences and tastes. You can learn that white cabbage is cooked in the barbecue and you can put it on top of meat and eat like a wrap 

• Rice Wine: Very good fit with Korean barbecue. Not having too much alcohol. A small bottle of 75 cl would be enough for 3 people.

• Try everything that you see in food market. You will get amazing flavours

Last words;

• Korea doesn´t require visa to many countries which is nice, However because of the raising migration to the country, they may ask you to show your return tickets back to zour home country. So, you should keep a copy of your return tickets. If you are not able to prove your return tickets they may not able to welcome you to their country.

Enjoy beatiful Seul with peace and joy 🙂