Our plan today was to visit the War Memorial of Korea and then meet up with one of Suzy’s friends in Itaewon.
The War Memorial of Korea
We made our way to The War Memorial of Korea. Once we arrived, we took some time to explore the outside of the building before making our way in. Near the front of the memorial are a few large monuments which are dedicated to the soldiers that fought in the war.
In the other areas surrounding the memorial is a huge field of the military equipment that was used during the war. All in all it’s a pretty impressive display without even stepping foot inside the building yet.
After exploring around the memorial we made our way inside. Its a fairly large building with two main wings and multiple floors. We spent a good amount of time exploring a large number of the exhibition halls. We didn’t have a great deal of time here but in the amount of time we did have I really appreciated the detail that was given to all aspects of this terrible war.
Itaewon
Our next stop after the memorial was to head to an area of Seoul called Itaewon. We were meeting one of Suzy’s friends here and the plan was to grab a bite and explore Itaewon a bit. Itaewon is a pretty “happening” place and is considered to be fairly “expat” friendly. Therefore there are a lot of western stylings to the area. It was neat to check it out and the vibe was very cool.
We stopped at a small restaurant called Jang Sarang to grab a late lunch. We shared a Korean pancake that was a mix of two different flavors (the two flavors escape me right now) and I had Deulkkae Sujebi which is this earthy porridge that was actually quite welcome. It was very homey and a good departure from a lot of the the food I’d been eating lately. Sadly the picture I took of it didn’t turn out but I’ll link one from online here.
Exploring Itaewon & Everything but the hero
After lunch we spent some time wandering through the streets of Itaewon. Its a nice wander, especially if you get away from some of the bigger streets and into some of the more quiet parts. We stumbled upon a lovely look out up the hill, a very interesting playground structure for children and enjoyed the uniqueness of the area.
Eventually we found ourselves in front of a coffee shop called Everything but the hero. I’m not entirely familiar with the history of the cafe, but I’m told its owned by a brother of a famous Korean actor. The inside was very nice and we shared some warm drinks and desert!
Namsang tower
Our next stop was Namsang tower. In many photos of Seoul, You’ll likely notice the large needle like tower atop a hill. This is Namsang tower and it was a short bus ride from the coffee shop. Once there, you needed to take a Gondola to the top of the hill and the base of the tower.
At the top is a large open area with different platforms for viewing the city. Its a beautiful view and we were fortunate enough to see it at night. The one thing though is that it is SUPER cold, and being so high up very windy as well. We found ourselves ducking in and out of the buildings to warm up when we could.
We considered paying to go to the top of the tower, but decided against it. While it would have been neat to see Seoul from the top of the tower, we also already really enjoyed the view from the base and didn’t think it was worthwhile to see it from any higher. Did we make a mistake? If anyone has seen it from the top, did we miss out?
Meyongdong
After the tower, it was time to say good bye to Suzy’s friend. We went our separate ways and Suzy and I made our way into Meyongdong. Meyongdong is a large shopping district of Seoul and when we arrived it was super busy. The streets were lined with a variety of shops, in the middle of the streets were various street vendors and food stalls. Even though we were eager to shop, our first order of business was to get ao a dumpling and noodle place that Suzy recommended, so we made our way through the busy streets until we arrived.
Myeongdong Kyoja (Dumpling and Noodles)
Myongdong Kyoja is a popular spot for noodles and dumplings and we were lucky to get in right before it closed. While it was still busy, I was impressed at the speed in which the food arrived. Between our ordering and the time it showed up at our table, it could only have been a minute or two. I’ll say now that this was one of my favorite meals of the trip. While the food concept is simple, I’m a sucker for dumplings and the noodles certainly satisfied having just come down from the cold mountain. Would highly recommend a visit should you ever find yourself in the area.
Shopping (a little..)
By the time we left Myeongdong Kyoja, it was getting late. We were only able to get a bit of shopping in before stores started closing so we made it a point to return here in the future. We hopped on a bus headed back for home and crashed soon after. We’d be visiting the DMZ tomorrow so we were excited to see what the next day had in store.