No Call Number: Gyeongju

Gyeongju is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Korea. It's the seat of the historic Silla dynasty, which united the different clans to form a united government in the 7th century. The Silla rulers were the first kings over the entire peninsula, I believe, and their court fostered art, science, and a rigid bureaucracy. Gyeongju is a little over an hour from us by car, so we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and drive down.

We had beautiful weather in Daegu, so it didn't occur to me that Gyeongju may be otherwise. I suppose since there are so many mountains in Korea, the weather system varies by location more than what I'm used to. It was chilly and windy, and Bobby was sorely underdressed. Nonetheless we enjoyed having the place nearly to ourselves.

We started with Bulguksa, a magnificent temple in the mountains around Gyeongju. There were several beautiful buildings, though they were very similar to the ones we've seen before. There were no photographs allowed inside of the shrines, probably for fear of damaging the intricate paintings. We did see a hanging fish with antlers, which is a tad different from the hanging fish without antlers we normally see (no idea what the hanging fish means.) I was struck by the number of rock piles, which Mr. Pan tells me are wishing piles. One shrine was crowded with them.

After a typically lavish Korean lunch at the Silla restaurant, we headed to the historic tombs. These were tombs much like we have in the mountains by our house, but writ large. They were hills, many of which had two humps for a king and queen. Silla was a long lived dynasty, so there were plenty of burial mounds for the dead royals.

We walked around a huge park in the center of Gyeongju, which included an ancient astronomical observatory, more burial grounds, a garden, and the remains of a fortress. The fortress was mainly a huge rock wall with a moat around it, though there was a rock lined cavern that was once an ice house.
We stopped by the Silla pleasure pond, which was a few pavillions where royals and their guests would party by the water. I tried to picture it filled with pleasure boats and paper lanterns.

On our way out, we got some of what was reputedly famous Gyeongju bread, though it was pretty much the same bread I get at markets in Daegu, a kind of pancake filled with bean paste. Nonetheless, they were tasty, and satiated me for the ride home. Many of the gas stations and restaurants had temple roofs, which was neat.