Seoul Travels - GyeongBokGung Palace

Let me introduce GyeongBokGung palace (technically, its wrong to add 'palace' to the end, since the Korean word 'Gung' already means palace)... GyeongBokGung means 'palace blessed by heavens'. its the former palace of ChoSeon dynasty, which was destroyed during the Japanese rule... and if its your first time in Seoul, it's a must visit tourist destination.

according to wiki, the palace is now restored to 40% of its former glory... though not as grand and 'goldy' as the Grand Palace in Bangkok, its grand in its own terms.

to get to GyeongBokGung, just get off at GyeongBokGung station on subway Line 3 and follow the signs... you cant miss it.

connected to or closeby GyeongBokGung, are National Palace Museum of Korea, National Folk Museum of Korea, and Blue House... all these places are free to enter (except for of course the Blue House... you can take pictures of it outside)...

without further ado, here are the pictures fresh from my visit.

when you get off GyeongBokGung station on Line 3, use exit 5...

even the subway station has historical decorations...

when you exit the subway, first building you see to the left is the National Palace Museum of Korea. its free admission so make sure you visit it... it shows you the history of ChoSeon, dynasty before South Korea.

entrance to the GyeongBokGung...

every hour or so, there's a performance right at the entrance...

the main entrance...

but first, you gotta buy the admission ticket...

which is 3,000 KRW per person. if you are travelling in a group of 10 or more, you get discounted price of 2,400 KRW.

map of GyeongBokGung... as mentioned before, the current palace is only 40% (left) of what it used to be (right)...

for those who are interested, you can pick up the brochures in 3 different languages... there's also guided tour every hour or so... i chose to go alone because i wanted to observe in my own time...

dragon guardian...

traditional korean roof with clear skies...

and there's mountain in the distance...

you will find many holes under traditional korean buildings. they are used to heat up the floor in traditional korean way, called 'ondol'

tiny door for the servants...

the palace is huge... so you can rest under pine trees in many places...

good view...

beautiful...

storage for the palace... food from different provinces...

Blue House in the distance... Blue House is the current government building...