This weekend was another long weekend because of National Foundation Day, a Korean holiday that celebrates the founding of the first Korean kingdom. It’s always celebrated on October 3rd and because that fell on a Sunday we didn’t have school on the following Monday. Since we had a three day weekend, my friend and I decided to take a day trip to a coastal city called Yeosu. Some of our friends had gone the previous weekend and it looked beautiful so we knew we had to visit as well. From Gwangju, it was only an hour and 45 minutes bus ride to get there and the tickets were around $13 one way. I still cannot get over how easy it is to travel here!
We arrived in Yeosu around 10:30 and had the whole day to explore. We had both looked up a few places to go, but neither of us had anything we really, really wanted to do which gave us a lot of flexibility. Our first destination was Angel Alley. This is a little art neighborhood, somewhat similar to the Gamcheon Cultural Village in Busan, but much smaller. It had murals along all of the walls and was known for its cafes and restaurants. We decided to stop at a café right away to start our Yeosu adventure off right. While walking through the neighborhood, we found a very cool café that had floor to ceiling windows overlooking the sea. Of course we had to stop there! We snatched up some rooftop spots and enjoyed drinks and dessert (yes, for breakfast) while looking at the view. Our day was off to a great start!
We continued on with our journey and went to the next spot on our list: the cable cars. From the café we were at before we could see the cable cars going from one island to another over the sea, so we had to ride them. It was a bit of a trek to get there because 1.) we got lost on the way and 2.) the walking bit was all uphill. We had to ride a bus for about 20 minutes to the cable cars which turned out to be a crazy ride. We were standing up for most of it because the bus was packed, but that did not deter the driver from racing up the mountain. Most of the people on the bus were senior citizens and I’m honestly surprised no one got hurt, because there were a lot of sharp turns, sudden stops, and people losing their balance. Bus drivers here always like to keep you on your toes. We were let off of the bus on the middle of a hill on an island across from where we’d originally begun. From there we walked to the top and bought our tickets.
It was a fun ride! I’d never been in a cable car before and I thought it was very exciting, yet somewhat scary. We got a great view of the city and the ocean, although the ride was over probably within five minutes. I’ve heard it’s really cool at night so I may have to go back to do that.
When we disembarked from the cable car we were on a different island and from there we could walk to another one called Odongdo. It was a neat little island that was primarily a nature park that you walked around and had a few gift shops. We walked around the entire island in about an hour; the walk was very nice and shaded with occasional lookout points where you could see a nice view of the ocean or the mainland.
Afterwards we got a late lunch at a cafe, then spent our last few hours of the trip just walking around enjoying Yeosu. It was such a relaxing day and the perfect day trip. I will definitely be heading back to Yeosu sometime to see the azaleas blooming on the mountains, so be on the lookout for Yeosu Part 2!
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