Cherry Blossoms (and sightseeing) at the old capitol!!

Excerpt from wikipedia: Gyeongju = the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled about two-thirds of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries...Gyeongju is often referred to as "the museum without walls".

More importantly, it's where I spent last weekend! They are known for the cherry blossom festival, and biking the area is considered one of the "top things to do in South Korea". Whelp, check that off my list, because bike the area is what I did!

Saturday morning the group (Adventure Korea) arrived in Gyeongju and took a few hours to nap. After all, it was about 5am and we had been on a bus from Seoul since 11:30pm.

Around 9am the group that filled 2 travel buses woke, and zombie-walked down to fill up on coffee and muffins to fuel us for the day. Originally, we were supposed to bike all day on Saturday, but Mother Nature had other plans. She made it rainy, cold, and windy...so the biking was out of the question. Instead, we boarded the bus, ready for a day of sightseeing.

Stop 1: Gyeongju National Museum

Here we spent the good part of our morning exploring the history of the Silla Period. We saw tons of artifcats, and read plenty of Korean history. But the highlight (in all April fashion) was of course, the CHILDREN'S MUSEUM!!! Here I was able to hands-on fun activities. Check me out, hard at work: 

Imprinting

Water Art!

Building my own Silla Period temple

Stop 2: Seokguram Grotto (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Deemed National Treasure No. 24 by the South Korean government

After a quick stop for a buffet lunch (that included SUSHI and SPAGHETTI), and a pit stop for umbrellas, we headed to the Seokguram Grotto. It is a National Heritage Site, and this was one of the spots I was quite excited to visit. However, when we got there (it was high up a mountain) the rain and wind were so rough that umbrellas were breaking, and our clothes were getting soaked all the way through. Add that to the SUPER thick fog which prevented seeing your hand in front of your face, and it wasn't exactly something I was enjoying. So while a couple of brave souls paid the admission price and hiked up to the top, a group of us headed back to the bus, dejected. Looks like I will have to make a trip back!

Stop 3: Bulguksa Temple (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Encompasses seven National treasures of South Korea, including Dabotap and Seokgatap stone pagodas, Cheongun-gyo (Blue Cloud Bridge), and two gilt-bronze statues of Buddha. The temple is classified as Historic and Scenic Site No. 1 by the South Korean government.

Next stop...Bulguksa Temple! This temple was HUGE. I wouldn't even classify it as a temple, but instead as a tiny village with lots of temples! We spent about 2 hours walking around and taking pictures. Here is a tiny bit of what I saw....

Bulguksa Temple (Temple of the Buddha Land)

Dabotap (pagoda of many treasures) is on the back of the 10won coins

Rock Formations EVERYWHERE for good luck!

Even rock formations on the doors!!

On the walk from here to the hotel (it was a 7 minute walk and the rain had let up) we ended up going through a GORGEOUS park of Cherry Blossoms...look how amazing it was...

Cherry Blossom Park

Close up of the Blossoms

A treeful!

In the midst of the Blossoms!

Once back at the hotel, we had time to enjoy whatever we decided. I had dinner with some new friends, then we shared a few drinks before bed.

Sunday we got up, grabbed a quick breakfast of muffins and yogurt, and then it was BIKING TIME!!! We got biking maps of the area, and we all split off into different groups and biked around the area to see the blossoms. Here are a few pictures during the day:
 

My Biking buddies! I'm not in the pic...I was taking the picture :)

I stopped to take a pic of us on bikes in the mirror.

Blossoms surrounding the area.

This reminds me of the Tidal Basin in DC!

Colors are NOT photoshopped!!!!

YAY BLOSSOMS!!!

Yellows, and Pinks, and Blues, and Apes!

After a day of sightseeing and being all paparazzi on those cherry blossoms, it was time to head home...we had 3 buses to get on before we could walk through the doors in our apartments, and we were exhausted!

Ghamsamnidah,
Apes :)