Walking the Fortress Wall

It's not everyday that one has the opportunity to play tourist in their own city, but lately I've been inspired to see more than just the back gate through Yonsei University and Yonhi-ro where I walk with purpose the same route to the grocery store.  A few weeks ago I got lost (with a tour group) in the back alleys of Seochon and rather enjoyed myself.  Upon seeing my photos, Gigi decided she wanted to get out more too and so I convinced her to join me on last weekend's walk along the Eastern part of Seoul's fortress wall.  I should note that until I saw this tour on the Royal Asiatic Society website, I was unaware that a fortress wall existed in Seoul.  Greg was supposed to go with us but decided he had too much work to do, so Gigi recruited Holly and her new friend Collin to go along in his place.  Too bad for Greg that it was an absolutely glorious day--the sun was shining, the pollution was minimal, and the leaves were just starting to change colors.  All in all, it was the perfect day to shirk one's school responsibilities and go for a stroll along an ancient wall.

We took the subway to Hansung University Station (a new stop for me) and met Dr. Robert Fouser, our guide for the day and the same leader from my previous tour.  Holly and Collin showed up in the nick of time and with the group assembled we walked about 100 meters from the subway stop to meet the staircase to the wall!  Across the street sat a small Korean gate where the wall had once joined.  Up we climbed and thus began our 3 or 4 kilometer trek as we...followed the fortress wall!  The wall itself has been rebuilt in many places with varying success at recreating the original building style.  In some places the original stones have been used along with ancient building techniques so you get a good idea of what the ancient fortress wall looked like.  In other places, the wall looks like a modern building project.  "Restoration" in Korea is not really the same as we might think of it in America if you were to say, "restore" a historic building to its former glory using period materials and techniques.  Needless to say, the fortress wall in Seoul is not as imposing as the Great Wall of China (I'll post a picture below for comparison), but it was a great afternoon out with friends and we did get to explore some fun new neighborhoods along the way.  We ended up popping out right at Dongdaemun gate and in ancient times the fortress wall would have connected the North, South, East and West gates of Seoul thereby providing a barrier of protection around the city.  In many places the wall has been consumed by housing or is gone all together but you can eventually pick it up again if you look hard enough.  There was quite a lot more historical discussion going on from our guide, but I was too busy snapping photos, chatting with my friends, and getting left behind because of the two aforementioned activities.  Below you'll find a collection of photos (some edited, some not) from the four hour tour with a bit of commentary here and there.  

Small gate at the start of the tour

Ahh, so this is where my recycling goes?!

The ascent...

Can you read the writing on the wall?  I sure have no idea what it says!

Fall flowers!

Oh how I wish...

The fall colors just beginning to show!

I LOVE autumn in Korea!

These leaves make my heart happy and remind me of the beautiful leaves in Spokane.

Gigi and I clowning around:)

The caption on the photo says it all! 

Here I am on the Great Wall of China in 2011...just for comparison's sake

Wall graffiti down a little alley way-so cute!

Will I ever be one with Seoul?

The cutest little guy!  He kept waving "hello" to us!

Let's play a game--name that flower/weed!

The rooftops of the neighborhood we walked through while following the wall--one of the poorer ones in the city.

The wall, plus fall leaves, plus Namsan Tower!

Me attempting to be artsy with my camera.

City shot!

Gigi, sitting pretty!

Cool wall in another neat neighborhood!  What should I add to the wall?

Following the wall led us to one of the four major city gates--Dongdaemun.

As the sun started to go down, our walk came to an end.

Next weekend I'm off to the mountains for a real show of the fall colors and then I have an entire week of photography fun with 27 students for Discovery Week in Seoul so there should be many more autumn images to come!  Happy Fall everyone!