Romana and I went to Inwangsan to see some of the spring blossoms (away from more crowded areas) and to check out a valley I’d spotted a few days before. We found a coffee shop with a fantastic rooftop and a route down into a park in Suseongdong Valley which leads to a part of Seoul I’d never been to before, Seochon.

Our first stop took us to a building I’d seen before with a big sign saying WeCook. In this same building is a rather cool coffee shop called cafe_arc (카페아르크) [It seems this cafe has closed down; shame, it was a great location] After navigating a few floors, we got to a large rooftop area with lots of seating and great views of Inwangsan and the surrounding buildings. A very nice place to relax.

We then headed up the road past to where I’d been recently but this time we went into Suseongdong Valley (수성동계곡). Along the way were lots of blossoms and I showed Romana the archery school I’d seen a few times before.

Suseongdong Valley is a smallish, hillside/valley park running from the east side of Inwangsan to a town area called Seochon. There are stream areas (dry now) and view points into the main city, but mainly lots of green and blossom.

At the foot of the park is a small canyon or crevice which holds a small stream and which you can view from close up if you walk into the riverbed.

At this point we were getting hungry again and spotted a small restaurant that seemed to be selling healthy food based on rice bowls. This was a a one-person operation and had the feeling of cooking at home. Very nice

We then wondered out of the park into a place call Seochon, home to another Scoff Bakehouse (too crowded!) and Tongin Market (통인시장). We walked past a very spooky looking house set in the middle of an otherwise very nice neighbourhood. Finishing up, we got a bus to an area of Jongno to buy plants and herbs for our house. A great first half of the day.

cafe_arc (카페아르크)

The foot of the valley park. This is the closest point on Google Maps. Try Naver or Kakao and searching “수성동계곡”. This is also where the restaurant was: