Hey Hive!
If you missed the last few posts, I've been sharing about our first trip to Seoul back in Nov 2022! We were waiting post-covid for everyone to go on their holidays before taking a big one and we finally decided to go on our honeymoon! It's also our first time experiencing Fall so we were double excited!
Last week, I finished writing about our penultimate day having a delicious katsu curry for an early dinner after walking around Bukchon Hanok Village!
After which we enjoyed a very nice relaxing outdoor bath in our hotel for a honeymoon surprise! The bath was technically closed at the time due to covid preventative measures, but we called and managed to book the place to ourselves!
We even enjoyed some champagne they had prepared for us! It was such a lovely surprise and made our trip feel like a real honeymoon.
But now we're on to our last full day in Seoul! Let's go!
16 Nov 2022. Wednesday.
Since today was our final day we wanted to stay around our area and make the most of what we had yet to explore. Turns out Myeongdong has a cathedral that looked interesting so we decided to go check it out!
It was pretty warm out today with a cloudless sky so it was good that we had to go underground to get to the cathedral.
Turns out this underground area was like a small shopping mall with boutique stores, galleries and cafes! The architecture and brick walls reminded me of London train stations that I've seen from movies like Harry Potter. But obviously this was cleaner and brighter.
I like that some of the shops were designed to blend into the station as well like this cafe with their huge open doors.
There were other stores that looked more regular like this bookstore.
We found a way out that led towards the Myeongdong Cathedral and found out its actually a part of the Seodomun Pilgrimage Route, which also has a few other churches, the Seosomun Martrys' Shrine and the Seoul Museum of Art in it.
Turns out the Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral is the provenance of the Korean Catholic Community, which is why the route starts here. It was at this time that I remembered South Korea's major religion is Christianity and I was reminded of the church that spread Covid throughout their church by spraying salt water on the members' saying it will heal them.
As we made our way up to the Cathedral, I tried to be as respectful as I could, and we passed by this place for prayers.
There were some statues of Mother Mary here with some cabinets for candles if you wished to light one for your prayer.
The Cathedral looked really impressive even on the walk up. We were quite surprised that there were quite a lot of people heading to the Cathedral on a Wednesday.
But it could also be people just walking through the area to another place. This Cathedral was located in a pretty central location after all.
I think we didn't realise how big the building was until we were at its doorstep. We couldn't even get a shot of the whole building from here!
The inside of the Cathedral looked just as impressive but strangely not as big as I thought. Granted, the main hall was huge and high but I guess there must be other chambers that only the staff can access.
There were quite a few people sitting quietly and praying so I tried to be respectful while we marveled at the architecture. It looked pristine but also still had the look of old stone. From the outside you'd expect it to be dark and maybe a little rundown but this is the polar opposite.
It was also quite cooling in here despite not having any visible air-conditioning. It was like the whole place was so well-designed it had its own natural ventilation and cooling system.
After a while we went back outside and saw this door with a stained glass window on top that looked so cool!
The surrounding buildings in the area also looked quite European just like the church. With the cobblestone pathways it felt like we were in a different country.
Or at least it did, until we found our way back onto main street. It was such a warm day for our winter coats that we wanted to get out of the sun as soon as we could.
So we decided to walk underground and maybe explore more of what was here in the station.
I'm glad we did too, because we found a mini art gallery here outside this painting shop! They looked like very traditional paintings of flowers and were maybe even just prints but it was cool.
We came across other artworks in the station like this very colourful mural with horses. It might be linked to some history with Myeongdong but I'm not too sure.
We went back out into the street into another area of Myeongdong or I guess it's nearer to Insadong now, where we saw this huge sculpture of a traditional calligraphy brush.
The sculpture is called "Draw A Stroke" and was made by Yoon Young-Seok in 2007, and I liked how it looked like it was being guided by an invisible hand.
The reason why we came here was because there was a nice temple called Jogyesa Temple nearby and they even offered a templestay which was interesting. We just came here to see the temple though, but this was the mascot of the Templestay Information Center which we thought looked cute.
From across the street the temple didn't look like much. It was a lot shorter compared to the church but had a lot of bright flowers in front.
But when we approached the entrance that's when we realised how magnificent it really was! The detail on the roof of the entrance was astounding!
There were also these huge stone statues within the gate to greet you as came through.
Just past the entrance is a little bridge that you'd cross to lead you into the main temple square, but this area was decorated so beautifully with flowers aplenty.
It was truly a lovely sight; it felt like we stepped into a garden of tranquility, with this peaceful statue sitting in the middle.
There were also stone statues of the Chinese zodiac surrounding the garden covered in moss.
They were all holding swords it felt like they were knights guarding this sacred garden.
At the back of the garden was this cartoony-looking lady that looks like a Buddha too but I'm not too sure.
There were some goofy-looking statues that did not look very regal or religious though, which was a little strange.
The other side of the garden had more goofy statues so I guess it was intended. Maybe this was to attract some kids to the temple.
The garden led to this Buddha statues covered in flowers that looked really nice. It was as if they were wearing a coat of golden flowers.
There were more flowers on the other side of the temple leading to the square.
I liked that they incorporated so much nature into the place, and the flowers looked so bright and colourful even though it was Fall.
The temple's main building was also surrounded by flowers and even had a huge tree in front of it. I'm glad they chose to retain that tree or it might've even been planted there on purpose, but it's become part of the temple too.
There was also a pretty tall mini pagoda also surrounded by flowers.
There were a lot of people around the temple entrance so we didn't approach the main chamber out of respect. Most of them were sitting on chairs outside the temple though, I guess because you can't go too deep into the temple. But it made me wonder what would happen if it rains?
One thing I did not expect to see at the temple was a snack stand!
We thought they were giving out free food for the temple-goers but then realised we had to pay for it. But we figured maybe they were earning money for the temple so we decided to just try it.
After all, it smelled good and we were getting peckish from our walk.
It looked like the little cream puffs that we tried at Gwangjang Market that Sean didn't like but with a different filling. I think this was filled with red bean paste. It was pretty good, and definitely not a snack I was expecting in a temple.
The temple had a side chamber with a sleeping Buddha in front of it surrounded by flowers as well. It was as if the Buddha was sleeping on a bed of flowers, literally.
We walked around eating our snack and admiring the architecture.
It was getting warm but there was a nice cool breeze occasionally. It made us wonder how these old folks could just sit in the sun for so long.
The back of the temple also had some very interesting designs. I'm not sure what they mean but perhaps they represent a teaching of Buddha or something.
We also saw these colourful tiles of different Buddhas opposite the building.
On the way out back towards the entrance we saw some pigeons taking a bath in the basin that I think was supposed to be for people to rinse their hands? I know Japanese shrines do that but I'm not sure about Buddhist temples.
It might've just been a fancy-looking basin for watering the flowers as well. But either way the birds being there definitely deterred people from touching it.
I think that's going to be it for today though! It was nice to take a walk through two of the biggest religious buildings in Seoul. Neither of us are very religious but we do respect freedom of religion and like to visit these places just to admire the architecture and design, neither of which disappoint!
Next week might be the last post for this trip but we'll see! Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Check out my previous post in this series!
TacoCat’s Travels #254 (Seoul): Yummy Curry and Honeymoon Spa Surprise! 🥂
