Day 14 - Gyeongju & Geumgwanchong Tomb

Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025

This morning we left the comfortable apartment at Haeundae in Busan and caught a taxi a few kilometres to the Haeundae Intercity Bus Depot where we purchased tickets to catch an express bus to Gyeongju.

Before we left I took some photos of our view from the 36th floor:

We arrived at the bus depot and bought a ticket at the machine in the little office there.  Our apartment building we had just left is on the right in the background somewhere.

Here are our tickets, only AUD11 each for a one hour express ride to Gyeongju.

The above photo is of our bus after we arrived and unloaded our bags and it began to drive off.  Very comfortable, big seats which recline and lots of legroom, a comfortable way to travel!

Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (57 BC – 935 AD), which ruled about two-thirds of the Korean peninsula at its height between the 7th and 9th centuries, for close to one thousand years, where it was known as Seorabeol. 

Later Silla was a prosperous and wealthy country, and Gyeongju was the fourth largest city in the world.  A vast number of archaeological sites and cultural properties from this period remain in the city. Gyeongju is often referred to as "the museum without walls".  Among such historical treasures, Seokguram grotto, Bulguksa temple, Gyeongju Historic Areas and Yangdong Folk Village are designated as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The many major historical sites have helped Gyeongju become one of the most popular tourist destinations in South Korea.

We  are staying in a Hanok, which is a traditional Korean house built with a natural, wooden framework and a unique architectural style designed to harmonize with the natural environment.  Here's a photo of our courtyard and hanok this evening:

Only a few hundred metres away are several parks which contain many large mounds which are ancient royal burial tombs from around 1.500 years ago.  They are spectacular.

Now it is 10pm here and I'm no expert so I won't try and explain why all of this is so amazing, but we visited the Geumgwanchong Tomb which was dodgily excavated by the Japanese during their invasion around 1910 and they stole many priceless artifacts they found, but the  remaining portion of this tomb has been rebuilt as a domed structure and the tomb internals partially recreated so we can see what is inside these mounds.  It is impressive.

The temperature today was a lot colder than we had experienced in Busan, around 6 degrees C (with snow forecast for Seoul when we arrive there on Thursday) so we then headed to some nearby markets to find some warm ear muffs for Jen until some pink ones were found (AUD10).  Most items we have noticed are cheaper here than in Australia, the food, transport, clothes all cheaper.

On the walk back to check into our hanok (we left our bags there when we first arrived but it will still being cleaned) and it is easy to wander past another historic marvel . . . . this houses the Silla Grand Bell.  An accurate replica, actually, with better photos and details here.

Tonight we went down a nearby street to find some delicious food.  As this is such a historic town, many of the buildings (even service stations) have been built to mimic the traditional Korean architecture, as shown below.

12,846 steps today, tomorrow many more as we explore this historic town on our second last full day in Korea.