We spent the morning enjoying the cool guesthouse, then headed into town to explore. Brunch . This was day four of my four-day trip to Gyeongju.

The hanok accommodation was too awesome to leave without taking lots of photos! We made some coffee from the supplied drip bags and put it in the cute tea set in the entrance area. Very nice. Then in the cold garden we tool more shots. Such a lovely place, especially when you have no idea what to expect walking up this very normal street!

We walked into town to get some food and passed Bonghwangdae (봉황대), big green tomb mound with trees on top. There were lots of crows there too. Very beautiful in the winter sky.

We ate at Choihyanggaok (취향가옥). Pretty decent.

We returned to the big tombs and went to Geumgwanchong (금관총), a tomb museum. This was the first time I’ve been inside one of these mounds and the displays were really informative and well designed. It showed the process of making the tombs and how the kings were buried. Way more complex than I imagined, so well worth a visit. There are two sections to the museum.

We wandered around some more then found Seonhwa cafe (선화), a gorgeous hanok cafe with a bright red tree in the garden. There was outside seating and a cat lounging around.

Then we went to the main tomb mound area. Lat time I was here you had to pay. It’s a walled park full of the mounds and one of the main attractions. Today however it was free. We walked to another museum in a mound this time focusing on the actual resting place of the king. Also fascinating and worth a visit.

Then we walked to the main park area that has Cheomseongdae (첨성대) the famous Gyeongju the stone observatory. Also were the remains of the pink myulli grass. It’s a lovely park that takes you to a hill and lily ponds and other flowery areas depending on the season! The hill at the southern end leads to the river and Woljeonggyo (월정교) an old ornate bridge.

We headed to our dinner place; sashimi and sake at Nokjin (녹진). We got the last table.

We had one more place to see which is recommended to see at night, Donggunggwa Wolji (동궁과 월지). It’s a palace or recreation area for kings of old. It features a large pond surrounded by Korean buildings and pavilions. It’s all lit up at night so the reflections of the pod walls and pavilions are popular photos views. My iPhone was playing up and the lens was dirty, so not great pics!

We picked up our bags from the guesthouse then went to Jungang Market (중앙시장) for our final stop before getting the bus to the KTX train station. We found a night food market and bought some street food and makgeolli, before running to the bus to make it to our KTX.

Places visited this Gwangju trip