Gyeongbokgung Palace

Also known as Gyeongbuk Palace which translates "greatly blessed by Heaven", this was the main royal palace and the largest of the Grand palaces which served as home for royals during the Joseon Dynasty. Due to its status as national sovereignty, it was heavily damaged during the Japanese invasion from 1592-1598. The Royal court was then moved to Changdeokgung Palace and the Gyeongbuk was left in ruins in the last 3 centuries until the regime of Heungseon Daewungon or Prince Gung of  19th century, where the iconic symbol of Korea was reconstructed of 330 buildings and 5792 rooms according to wikipedia. 

From Hanok Village, its easy to reach the palace by just walking. Another thing I could commend here is that they have English and other language speaking guides within every stop light whom you could easily approach to ask for directions.  The walk to the palace is a mere 5-10 min until we are almost approaching the palace but we found some food kiosks so we stopped by to try it. We decided to give up the hanbok because it was so freaking cold by mid day to be walking on it.  I can imagine how other tourist must be feeling wearing it to the palace. Free admission to the palace when your wearing hanbok. 

Pork Cutlet Shop 

We found this small eatery along the way, the place was kind of inviting so we dig in before our palace tour. 

Definitely one of my fave dishes. 

Pork cutlet was just ok though

and some hot tofu soup. Yummers! 

To the Palace

Know before you go that the palace is closed on Tuesdays, changing of guards happen every hour from 10-2PM. Admission is free for those wearing their hanbok. Unfortunately we could not walk that far in this cold, entrance fee for adult is KRW 3,000, 18 yrs and below KRW 1,500.

We were just in time for the changing of palace guards, it was impressive! It must be like this during the regime of Joseon dynasty, in how they handed down the tradition eventhough the rule of monarch does not exist anymore.Unfortunately there were too many people, and we were being polite so we just watched from afar appreciating whats currently taking place. I could practically say that this is one of main tourist attractions because the place is soooo so  crowded! Oh the difficulty to find a perfect spot to get a photo. Anyway, we make use of this time to walk around, and just feel the palace vibe. Every corner looks familiar from all the epic KDrama I watched.  Ok so I managed some snaps..

Promise to go back here on a springtime, ok yes? 

Meanwhile channeling my ganda ka ghorl?

Cheers,

marzylorie (^.^)