Another day of tourism today, first onto a train to City Hall again. It is about a 30 minute walk to Gyeongbokgung Palace, passing statues of King Sejong and Admiral Ye Sun Shin.

King Sejong

Admiral Ye Sun Shin

Gyeongbokgung Palace was built in 1395, then destroyed by Japan in the Imijin war 1592 to 1598, then rebuilt late in the 19th century, then destroyed again by the Japanese during their occupation in the early 20th century and has been slowly restored since 1990.

Here we saw the changing of the guard, a very colourful ceremony.

The chief guard

After our failure to visit Jongmyo Shrine yesterday we managed to go on the 2.00 pm tour, here we saw the Confucian Shrine where the tablets of the Joseon Dynasty are stored. This is another UNESCO world heritage site due to the survival of the tablets from the 14th century.

The path of the spirit Jongmyo Shrine

A peaceful part of the shrine

The sign says it all

On from this we walked walked and walked some more, ending up visiting the Namdaemun Market, the oldest and largest market in Seoul. To say it is huge would be an understatement, we have never seen anything like it, we spent a while ambling through the streets.

Huge market

Feeling very worn out we made our way back to Dangsan once again for a well earned rest.

A stream runs through Seoul