It’s cherry blossom season in Korea. Cherry blossoms are everywhere. On Sunday, we took a short bus ride to Gyeongju to see the cherry blossoms and several of the sites in and around the city. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD) which ruled most of the Korean Peninsula between the 7th and 9th centuries.
Christian’s co-teacher, Sunny, arranged a tour for us and came with us. She brought her six-year-old daughter along as well.
The first stop on the tour was Poseokjeong, the site of a royal pavilion. There really wasn’t much to see, only the remains of a pond. The first picture below is us at the entrance. The next pictures are the ruins, cherry blossoms and Sunny and her daughter.
Our next stop was Cheonmachong, which is the tomb of a Silla king. It’s named after a horse painted on a saddle flap found in the tomb. The horse, a Korean Pegasus, has eight legs and is depicted with wings on its feet. Below is a picture of us in front of the tomb, the horse painting, a gold crown found in the tomb and a picture of the land around the outside of the tomb. There are over 200 tomb mounds in Gyeongju. This is the only one that is open to the public.
Next, we visited Cheomseongdae, an astronomical observatory. Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving observatory in East Asia, and one of the oldest scientific installations on Earth. It dates to the 7th century.
After that we headed to Seokguram. Seokguram was completed in 774. It’s now a UNESCO world heritage site. Seokguram is a man-made cave that contains a 3.5 meter high buddha. Although it was worth the trip out there, it was disappointing to see that the entire cave is behind glass. Below are some pics.
Our last stop was Bulguksa Temple. It is home to seven National treasures of South Korea, including Dabotap and Seokgatap stone pagodas, Cheongun-gyo (Blue Cloud Bridge), and two gilt-bronze statues of Buddha. By this time it had been a long day, so we were all a little tired. But the temple was still one of the best sites of the day. The first picture below is of the meditation pool in front of the temple. The second picture is of large statues that are the guardians of the temple. The middle one is some sculpture. The last one is Christian and I in front of the main temple.
This is the last picture of the day. I think the best part is Sunny’s daughter eating a corn dog, peaking through our legs.
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