Some Inwangsan evening, you may climb a mountain

Some Inwangsan evening,
you may climb a mountain,
you may climb a mountain to a panoramic view.

The Seoul City wall has shown up in several of our past posts (Baegak Mountain Hike, Heunginjimun Gate in Dongdaemun, Naksan Park). The wall’s length means we have explored it section by section on several occasions.  The wall is one of my favorite features of Seoul. The juxtaposition of its ancient stones against the steel and glass high-rises exemplifies Seoul.

Hanyangdoseong, the ancient Seoul city wall, was originally built in 1396 during the reign of the first Joseon monarch, shortly after the capital was established in Seoul. Currently, about 70% of the original wall remains or has been restored (12.9 km of the original 18.6 km). Hanyangdoseong is one of the world’s longest traditional city walls that still stand.

The wall runs along the ridges of Seoul’s four inner mountains, Baegaksan (north), Naksan (east), Namsan (south), and Inwangsan (west). You may have noticed that each name ends in “san,” which means mountain.  (That’s why we keep visiting so many “sans”!)  Inwangsan Trail, the purple trail on the map above, is known for its great city views and is open 24 hours a day. It is possible (and popular) to hike up and watch the sunset from the peak.

The south end of this trail is an area where the wall no longer stands. Thus, we started our hike where the wall picks up just west of Dongnimmun station (line 3). This area of the wall feels like a city park and featured rows and rows of cosmos flowering along the trail.

Then began the stairs…

And more stairs…

And more stairs…

Since the wall follows the mountain’s ridge, there were sweeping city views during most of the ascent.

We reached the top just as the sun was setting.

We quickly descended before full dark could overtake us, continuing north along the trail, and we headed to our next destination: dinner!

Jaha Son Mandu was our dinner stop near the end of the trail. When we arrived and saw the Michelin sign, we were worried to set foot in the place in our hiking gear. Before we could really reconsider, the hostess called us in and seated us. We soon saw that some diners were in fancy suits and dresses, but others were dressed informally, so we didn’t feel too out of place (well, any more than usual at least).

We, along with everyone around us, ordered the mandutguk (dumpling soup), the house specialty. The soup featured a light beef broth flavored with homemade soy sauce and kimchi in which the mandu (dumplings)— filled with pork and vegetables— were cooked on the table in typical Korean style. The soup also contained lots of mushrooms, cabbage, leaks and beef (think beef brisket), along with a few fish cakes, rice cakes, and egg. It was delicious! I am not surprised this place earned the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand rating.

After we finished all of the contents of the soup, the server offered to add rice or noodles to the remaining broth. We were very tempted but declined only because we were so full!

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After dinner we wandered over to the nearby Changuimun Gate, the official endpoint of the Inwangsan trail.

For (many) more photos of the hike (in all their high-res glory), see my Flickr album.