Hi, welcome to this Korea travel itinerary. We gonna share our most wonderful 13-days journey in South Korea, travelling from the south to north. Hope the blog could help you to finetune your trip.
Jeonju Itinerary
Day 2 : Historical City
Nambu Traditional Market - Jeondong Catholic Cathedral - Omokdae & Imokdae - Hanguk Jib - Jeonjuhyanggyo Confusion School - Myeongdong
Waked up early in the morning. Both of us slowly walked through village for breakfast. Most of the shops along the way were still closed.
First Stop: Jeonju Nambu Traditional Market (Nambusijang)
Jeonju Nambu Traditional Market is opened since 1905. It is comprised of more than 800 stores selling all kinds of goods including seafood, vegetables, furniture, food, silk and much more. The market also has various great delicacies which would delight your taste buds.
At here, we had Kongnamul gukbab, which known as one of the staple food in Jeonju, as our breakfast. The bean sprout soup in Jeonju, was came with a stainless steel bowl of rice, packet of seaweed and few savoury banchan (side dishes). Different from other places, the rice was required to be poured into the soup and eaten with the soup.
The warm soup was light and refreshing, while the bean sprout was still crisp and not overcooked. Eaten with the strong-flavored side dishes served, including salted shrimps, pickled garlic and spicy stir-fried octopus, the rice soup became more filling and flavorful. It was a wonderful meal for us to kick start the day, especially in this cold season.
Second stop: Jeondong Catholic Cathedral
After refilling our energy bar, we visited beautiful Jeondong Catholic Cathedral which located at the entrance of Jeonju hanok village. It is considered as one of the most beautiful Catholic churches in Korea.
The cathedral is the largest and oldest Romanesque-Byzantine style structure in the Jeollanam-do and Jeollabuk-do provinces. The interior was stunning, with warm color design, high ceilings, intricate carvings, and beautiful stained glass windows. The cathedral was sacred and got the power to lighten the heart of followers.
The cathedral is meaningful to the local Catholics. It was built at where the first Korean Catholic martyr, Yun Ji-chung (1759-1791) died. During that time in Joseon Dynasty, Catholicism had a very hard time, many missionaries and priests lost their lives when trying to establish this religion in South Korea. >> More detail of Jeondong Catholic Cathedral
Third stop : Omokdae & Imokdae
Not far from Jeonju Hanok Village, there is a set of wooden staircase for short climb up to the hill where Omokdae and Imokdae located at. The historic sites were so aesthetic. The autumn leaves complimented both sites well. Its high elevation on top of a steep hill, also made it a good place to glimpse over Jeonju Hanok Village. There had only few visitors when we were there. The serene surrounding was great for taking beautiful photo.
Omokdae pavilion is where Lee Seonggae, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty (King Taejo), stopped by and held a banquet here to celebrate his major victory against Japanese invasion at Hwangsan Mount, before going back to Gaegyeong. At here, King Taejo thought to develop his own country and here came the born of Joseon Dynasty.
Across the pedestrian approximately 80 meters downhill, is Imokdae. There are the memorial stone and building where the ancestors of King Taejo, Mokjo once used to live before. The engraved letters on the stone is the handwriting by Emperor Gojong. Gojong refused to accept the fall of Joseon Dynasty and tried to reconstruct the traditional dynasty.
Both are the invaluable historical sites in Korea.
Lunch: Hanguk Jip
For lunch, we were having Jeonju Bibimbap (Korean mixed rice bowl) at Hanguk Jip.
The restaurant's bibimbap is considered the most original bibimbap. Many famous figures, even the former Korea presidents, have been enjoyed their bibimbap here.
Bowl of warm white rice topped with meat (usually beef), namul (seasoned vegetables) with gochujang (chilli pepper paste). Mixed all the ingredients together well before eat. The dish also served along with savoury banchan including baby crab. Yum! 💯
We also tried on their Korean brewed rice wine, Makgeolli. Its color was darker compared to usual milky white Makgeolli. Slightly sweet and tangy.
Third Stop: Jeonjuhyanggyo Confusion School
Before going to Seoul, we visited Jeonjuhyanggyo Confusion School. It just lied aside of our homestay. Many famous Korean drama, eg. “Sungkyunkwan Scandal” and “Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” were filmed at here before.
Jeonjuhyanggyo Confusion School was a local Confucian school which established during Joseon Dynasty.
It was a national educational center for rich young sons of noblemen.
Originally it was located at Gyeonggijeon Shrine site, but unfortunately it was being destroyed during Second Japanese Invasion.
Current building is the rebuilt one and designated as Historic Treasure No.379.
In normal day, the school is calm and peace, but we could picture how lively it was back to Joseon Dynasty.
Goodbye Jeonju
After warm goodbye with the host, we headed to Jeonju Express Bus Terminal around 1.30pm. Overall I thought that Jeonju Hanok village is a beautiful place. One day visit is good enough to cover most of the area, but two day one night visit would be perfect. The beauty of this neighborhood definitely worth for you to discover with slower pace.
Where we stayed in Seoul : New Sun Guesthouse
We arrived Seoul Express Bus Terminal around 7pm. We took subway to the guesthouse we booked, New Sun Guesthouse. The guesthouse has an excellent location. Located in the heart of Seoul, 330m to Namdaemum night market, 640m to Myeongdong, 5 minutes walk to subway station (Hoehyeon Station, Exit 1) and bus station. It would be very convenient for us to move around Seoul. The room provided was also simple and clean, equipped with private toilet.
Fourth stop: Myeondong
We went to Myeongdong once done debagging. Myeongdong is a shopping heaven. Korean skincare, cosmetics, clothes, accessories, K-pop merchandise etc, you can find everything, from handmade item to high end goods at there. Myeongdong also filled with restaurant and street food of all colour, sizes and tastes.
Some of the shops and items sold are repetitive. You may compare the price shop by shop if you are not rush hour.
What impressive us was that many salespersons here could said good chinese.
The only minus point was that we didn’t receive any skincare sample here as per told by many friends and bloggers.
Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our shopping. We explored Korea Mcd, dozen of Korean snacks shops. I also got my dream shoes, which hardly find in Malaysia.
It was an energetic place. We spent almost 3 hours in Myeongdong. When we back to guesthouse, it was already 11pm. (≧∇≦)ﾉ
This was our day-5 in Korea, travelling from Jeonju to Seoul.
Hope to see you next day.
Good night~