Long before the Joseon Dynasty took power and over a millenium ago, Korea was ruled by the Silla Dynasty - originally as part of a three-kingdom state, and then once they'd done some conquering, in a 'unified Silla' period towards the end of the first millennium AD. In their capital Gyeongju they built great royal tombs of stone and covered them in earth, and now amid the growing modern city there are loads of these huge burial mounds dotted around. Rather like a team of enormous moles had been very very busy. At this time of year the mounds are the same dried-out golden-brown of most of Korea's countryside, but the pictures of them in the summer are bright green and admittedly much prettier.
Various excavations mean that they've unearthed lots of artefacts and treasures from the mounds and that was the focus of my first half-day or so in Gyeongju as I explored the parks where the burial mounds are situated and the Gyeongju museum, a well-curated collection of the stuff they dug up.
But Gyeongju is more than just burial mounds. The Silla converted to Buddhism towards the end of their era and started carving Buddha statues and Buddha images into rocks all over the place, and you can go exploring in the surrounding area to find many of these. Of course there are also slightly newer temples from the Joseon era too.
Bulguksa Temple is one of these, and one of the nicest and biggest temples I've visited with lovely grounds. In one of the prayer halls there was a service of some kind going on (a man was counting the number of shoes left outside) including the singing of some hymns. It was nice to see the place not just focused on tourism but also a proper living temple.
From Bulguksa I walked up the steep but pleasant 2km path to Seokguram Grotto, where a large Buddha sits serenely in a cave. Unfortunately they've put a big glass screen in front so you can't get very close, and they don't allow pictures, but it was a nice spot. There was a good side-trip from the Seokguram ticket office and car park up a small peak (745m high) with some nice views too and by the time I got back to Bulguksa and found a restaurant for lunch I felt quite satisfied with my morning. Especially as there were quite a few chipmunks along the paths; I don't think I've ever seen wild chipmunks before!
The best day in Gyeongju was the last day. South of the city is a small mountain range called Namsan, where the Silla had a fortress, and where there are lots of carvings, statues and stone pagodas (pillars, really) dotted around the forest. The Koreans love hiking and on an unseasonably warm Saturday the paths were packed with people, mostly middle-aged or older, out for a walk with friends and family. A number of them had small speakers in their bags or pockets and were playing music as they walked, which I do find a little unsociable, but even so there were times when it was me and the forest.
I climbed up from the start at Samneung on the western side of the range to a peak called Geumobong, following the frequent signs and taking a number of small detours to look at carvings and so on. From Geumobong I headed to Yongjangsa, where a stone pagoda sits majestically on the edge of a plateau overlooking the mountains - it was gorgeous. Then I headed down into the valley, across a swing bridge and back up another valley towards a temple called Chilburam where they have some very good Buddha carvings. Chilburam is a small, working temple and I was greeted by a smiling nun who ushered me in for radish tea and snacks served by an equally welcoming young monk with very good English who wanted to know all about my trip.
I ended the walk at Tongiljeon Palace, a more-recently built palace which had some nice photos of the region and some historic paintings telling the story of the Silla. It was a really lovely day.
Getting around Gyeongju
Gyeongju is dead easy to navigate and pretty small - it took me less than an hour to walk from my hostel near the bus stations to the museum. You can rent bikes and electric scooters too if you want. To get to Bulguksa I caught bus #10 from outside the express bus terminal. Buses 10 and 11 do loops from the bus terminals to Bulguksa in opposite directions and the temple is about halfway around the loop so it probably wouldn't matter which one you got.
To get to Samneung I caught bus #500 (a number of others go the same way), from the top of the street which runs along the east wall of Tumuli Park. These buses also leave from the bus terminals I think. I got bus #10 back from Tongiljeon after my hike took me over the Namsan range to the opposite side.
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