Seoul Fortress Wall 서울성곽

Seoul fortress wall is not as well known as The Great wall of China, nor as big, but it sure is a great place to visit.  Built in 1397, the fortress wall circles most of downtown Seoul.  Much of the wall was destroyed during the Japanese invasion as well as the Korean War, but today many parts are being restored.

We took a hike a beautiful Saturday morning to enjoy the stairs and the view.  The wall itself is a 18.2km hike, but we only hiked half of it this time around.  We have plans to finish the loop just to say we did it.


The map of our hike.  We started in the upper right hand corner near
Sungkyunkwan University, after traveling by both bus and subway. 

Both new and old portions of the wall.

Security check point.  To hike this section of the wall you must have a passport as wall is just
behind the "blue house" the home of the Korean President.  Much of the area
does not allow photography for security reasons.

Guardians on the gate roof.

Near the top, with Bukhasan in the background.

Talk about a few steps!

We took a side hike to climb up to the Gichabawi (Bawi means large rock). 
The Bawi was a huge granite rock on the peak of this mountain..

A look at the wall.  There are many sections along the wall where you cannot take pictures.

Our hike map.

Map with elevation change.  Wow!  I think we hiked 9 miles that day!