Day 73 – Seoul
Today we travelled by train to the infamous Seodaemun Prison History Hall which was built around 1910 and is where the Japanese held Korean prisoners (Korea was colonised/occupied by the Japanese from 1910 until 1945). The Prison has been converted into a museum, with explanations of how the Japanese ruled.
Memorial Hall Fan shaped exercise yard
The cells and even the exercise hall were made in a fan shape to minimise the number of guards required to watch the prisoners.
From the Seodaemun Prison History Hall, it is a short walk to the Independence Gate (Dongnimmun Gate), which as the name says, was created to mark the independence of Korea from Japan. The design of the gate is meant to be French inspired.
Across the road from the Independence Gate, we went to a restaurant (Pop’s Cook Menu, search it in Naver Map) and ordered a Pork cutlet….I was in love. The fried cutlet tasted amazing and was so filling. Highly recommend.
As it is J’s birthday tomorrow, I decided to do something special and leave the hostel and move into a hotel. We ended up staying at Hotel Yaja Yeongdeungpo. The hotel was really nice.
After settling, we went out to explore Yeongdeungpo. It was definitely a area where locals go out. The streets were full of BBQ restaurants. Feeling something different, we googled Burgers and ended up walking for 30 minutes down the road. Turns out we ended up at a Burger King (Hungry Jacks).