After a few days in Seoul, we made our way via fast train to the UNESCO World heritage city of Gyeong-ju. Our hotel was near the Bulguksa temple, which was originally built in 528AD and has been restored/rebuilt numerous times, most recently in 1973.
At Bulguksa temple there is a compound with multi-storied pagodas...
and pretty gardens.
And nearby is shrine built into the mountain, called the Seokguram Grotto.
You can't take any pictures in the grotto, so I am going to steal this one from the web:
We spied this clever inverted pagoda building on the bus ride back into town.
Our last stop was the Daeneungwon Royal Tombs. Ancient emperors were buried in these elaborate boxes with heaps of jewelry and riches and then covered with stones and a mound of dirt shaped into a steep-sided hill. This area is the site of a half dozen tombs, only one of which has been excavated so far.
One day was all that we really needed in Gyeong-ju. From there we took a quick and very cheap bus to Busan, also known as Pusan.
yes yes!! i was in busan!! and kyongju too! what a coincidence :)
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