How to spend your first ‘real’ weekend in Seoul

If you saw Peter’s recent Facebook post, you already know we made the most of our first days out of quarantine. After 15 days of feeling like our muscles were wasting away from disuse, we proceeded to walk about 35 miles over Friday-Monday. Our legs no longer feel disused!

Friday

We were released from quarantine on Friday at noon and decided we didn’t want to take any transit or go inside at all. We just wanted to walk! This was a good opportunity to explore Itaewon, the international neighborhood next door. We can walk there in about 15 minutes from our apartment.

Itaewon is known for its great diversity, making it an exceptional place to wander around and people-watch. We walked through Halal markets surrounding Seoul Central Mosque, though we did not try to go in as it was a Friday prayer time. Very close by, we then walked down a street filled with LGBTQ bars and clubs. Food from all over the world is available, from kebabs to tacos to gelato to British pub fare. There is even an Itaewon Antique Furniture Street, which sprang up in the 1960s when military personnel leaving the U.S. base at Yongsan would sell their belongings before they departed. I would have believed I was suddenly in London, or maybe in Chestnut Hill!

It was even more fun to spend time in Itaewon because the first K-drama we watched on Netflix was “Itaewon Class,” and we got to see some of the location filming sites while we were wandering.

In case that much walking was not enough, we decided to hike up through Namsan Park to the iconic Seoul Tower. It is a lovely park and ordinarily the walk wouldn’t have been too strenuous, but in the high humidity and after a whole afternoon of walking, it was a lot! Some of the trails were also a little more rustic than we expected, so when we got to the top we were really hot and really muddy!

We thought we would need to take a bus back down the mountain because we were so tired and hungry – but not to worry. Seoul and its conveniences had us covered. There are restaurants at the top of Namsan! We sat in a huge, air-conditioned restaurant with only a few other people and ate ice-cold buckwheat noodles with sliced radishes and cucumbers (naengmyeon 냉면). Nothing could have tasted better at that moment. The perfect ending to a hot and sweaty hike!

Thanks to our naengmyeon, a lot of water, and a little rest, we were able to hike our way back down to Itaewon, where we took in the crazy bar scene (without visiting any actual bars this time). We did, however, use our remaining energy to spend an hour in a noraebang, aka karaoke room. It was a tiny room, big enough for just the two of us.

Finally, we walked back to our apartment – 11 hours, 11.5 miles and 81 floors later.

What could we possibly have saved for Saturday…?

Saturday

We had walked past the outside of The War Memorial of Korea, but since it was raining buckets on Saturday we decided to see the inside. (Incidentally, we saw it in the nick of time as most museums now have been closed again, but that’s a story for another day.) Typically, I would not anticipate finding a war museum that interesting, but the story of the Korean War is a compelling narrative that starts long before North Korea invades South Korea on June 25, 1950. Because the Korean peninsula has a strategic geographic position for both Japan and China, as well as a history of warring kingdoms within itself, it seldom has experienced lasting peace.

The museum is less a glorification of war and more a memorial to the many lives lost throughout Korean history in struggles for independence. The South maintains steadfast hope of peaceful reunification with the North someday. The sculptures and photos depicting families separated as a result of war are especially moving.

After our museum visit, it was still raining, but we were not ready to go back home. Though we are not big shoppers, we learned how to use the subway and took it to Gangnam to the Starfield COEX Mall, the largest underground shopping mall in Asia. It was too crowded for us to feel comfortable staying long, but we did visit the Starfield Library, featuring 13 meter-high bookshelves on several sides. There was not a lot of reading going on, but it is a cool space!

The rain was then light enough that we could walk one of the main outdoor shopping streets in Gangnam.

We learned how to use the bus by taking one from Gangnam to Itaewon. I accidentally rode the first one for free by using my card incorrectly, but now I have it down!

We had a great dinner of Mexican-Korean fusion tacos in Itaewon, followed by my favorite – gelato. I’ve now had chestnut, black tea, red bean, and several chocolate flavors. I have no plans to stop anytime soon. This is why we have to walk 11 miles every day.

Having said that, after a mere 7 miles of walking, Saturday was done. We rested our legs to get ready for Sunday and Monday!