Seoul Backstreet Walk: Anguk Station to Jongno 5-ga Station

Описание: #4K #WalkingTour #Korea
The area between Anguk and Jongno 5-ga Stations in central Seoul is a mix of the historical and traditional with the modern and foreign. It's a great place to take a walk no matter how long you've been in Seoul. Somehow, after 31 years of walking in Seoul, I had never been on the backstreets in this video until I set out to film it.

We start inside Anguk Station (Seoul Subway Line 3) and make our way to Gate 3 on the north side of Yukgok-ro. We get a look around, then at 01:59 pass by Gyedong-gil (01:59).

Gyedong-gil cuts through the heart of Gye-dong, a legal "dong", or neighborhood, that is part of the larger administrative "dong" called Gahoe-dong. It's part of an area loosely referred to as "Bukchon" or "Samcheong-dong", the names of a village of traditional houses and another area neighborhood, respectively. Here you'll find myriad boutiques, cafes, restaurants, art galleries, museums, historical sites, and tourist shops.

Past the Hyundai Building (02:49), we get a look at the Jongno Fire Station across the street while waiting at a crosswalk (03:37). The south side of the street affords us a good view of the Arario Museum (05:45) and Donhwamun---the main gate to Changdeok Palace ( 06:26). We also pass the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music (06:43) and get a glimps of the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater across the intersection of Yulgok-ro and Donhwamun-ro.

We turn south onto Donhwamun-ro. This street has a special atmosphere. It has wide sidewalks that together take up more space than the two lanes allocated for vehicular traffic. That's a real rarity in Seoul, where wide sidewalks are usually reserved for multi-lane boulevards. Also, the buildings on the north end are no taller than 5 or 6 stories. The combination makes for an odd sensation.

At 10:58 we cut onto one of those backstreets that makes labeling street names confusing, sometimes. On maps, half of this street is called Yulgok-ro 10-gil, which is the name of a street that crosses it in the middle, and the other half is called Seosulla-gil, which is the name of the street that it intersects on its east end. At any rate, we aren't on it very long, as we cut into a small alley at 11:33 that leads us to another alley (11:56) that is, according to maps, part of Yulgok-ro 10-gil.

The alleys here run between buildings in the traditional Hanok style. This is what houses looked like in the Joseon Dynasty from the 14th century onward. Many of the Hanok in this area were build in the early 20th century. It's hard to tell if any of them still serve as homes. We pass several that are very obviously occupied by small businesses.

At 13:19 we leave the alleys behind and turn onto Seosulla-gil. "Seo" means "west", and "Sulla" is from "Sullagun", a group of Joseon soldiers who once patrolled the area around Jongmyo Shrine, which is beyond the wall on the west side of the street. It's a 14th century Confucian shrine memorializing the kings and queens of Joseon. The east side of the street is lined with cafes, eateries, and jewelry shops, in buildings both old and new.

At 19:18, we enter Jongmyo Plaza Park, where we pass a memorial to a Korean independence fighter and scholar (19:59), then the entrance to the grounds of Jongmyo Shrine (20:42). At 22:38, we leave the park and turn north onto Dongsulla-gil ("East Sulla Road"). This intersects with Changgyeonggung-ro, named for Changgyeong Palace, a minor palace next door to Changdeok Palace.

We cross the intersection and continue east on Gimsangok-ro before turning southeast onto a backstreet. This takes us back into the modern world of restaurants and alcohol establishments catering to the area's office workers. We follow the backstreets until we emerge onto Jong-ro ("Bell Street") and end our walk at Gate 1 of Jongno 5-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 1).

ROUTE MAP:
https://bit.ly/3aRVDVV

META:
This video was filmed in the mid afternoon of June 8, 2022, with an iPhone 11 on a DJI OM4 in 4K @ 60 fps. The temperature was around 25°C/77°F.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Anguk Station Gate 3
00:52 Yulgok-ro
08:46 Donhwamun-ro
10:58 Seosulla-gil | Yulgok-ro 10-gil
11:56 Yulgok-ro 10-gil
13:19 Seosulla-gil
19:18 Jongmyo Plaza Park
22:38 Dongsulla-gil
22:40 Changgyeongung-ro
25:22 Gimsangok-gil
26:00 Jong-ro 31-gil
27:56 Daehak-ro 1-gil
31:05 Jong-ro 33-gil
31:28 Jong-ro (Jongno, "Bell Street")
31:42 Jongno 5-ga Station

LINKS:
Seoul Subway Lines 1 & 3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_S...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul_S...

Jongno-gu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jongno_...

Gyedong-gil
http://english.seoul.go.kr/gyedong-gil/

Arario Museum
https://www.arariomuseum.org/main.php

Changdeok Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changde...

Changgyeong Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changgy...

Seosulla-gil
https://english.seoul.go.kr/seosulla-...

Jongmyo Shrine
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/738/