Gyeongju: Korea's ancient capital

10. arriving in the historic gyeongju. The ladies at the information desk seemed to anticipate all our questions as they began to map out a route for our stay in Gyeongju, complete with guesthouse recommendations. Whether this shows Gyeongju’s aptitude regarding tourism or just the beginnings of a tourist trap I cannot say. It may even be both. But I had no complaints when the owner of the guesthouse offered to pick us up from the bus station.

11. around the silla capital. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla, which ruled Korea for most of the 7th and 9th centuries after taking over the other two kingdoms, Koguryo and Paekche. Two days and one night was not quite enough to spend amidst so much history, but it gave us enough time to see a temple, a palace, a very old conservatory, and the many royal tombs scattered throughout the small town. At one point we decided to go in search of a specific tomb that, judging by the map, was not more than 1.5 km away. We ended up walking over 3 km, all the while parallel to the tomb but on the opposite side of a large hill. Luckily, we were not the only ones to get lost. A nice man on his way to work at the city hall took a wrong turn and ended up helping us find a small and rather disappointing tomb. Ah well—his car was air-conditioned and made our return trip much shorter! Around 11 that night we said goodbye to our awesome little guesthouse and its owner and boarded a night train back to Seoul to spend one last day amongst familiarity and friends.