We got last Wednesday off for Childrens' Day so I took a trip to Gyeongju. I had already gone a month ago but didn't get to see few of the famous sights there.
The first place I went was Bulguksa Temple, one of the first and most famous Buddhist temples in Korea. It is known for its stone carvings, stairways, and pagodas. Just up the mountain from Bulguksa is the Seokguram grotto, built around the same time. Seokguram is a man made "cave temple" dug out of the mountainside. Inside it contains what is considered the best Buddhist carvings in Korea, and the main stone Buddha in the center could be the best example in the world. As with all Buddhist temples, you are not allowed to take pictures, but I managed to find a good one online (it's the picture above this post).
The rest of the day I went to a few more places around the city, the best of which was Anapji pond. The pond was built as sort of a vacation home for the royal Silla family (Gyeongju was the capital of the whole kingdom for about 500 years starting in the 6th century). The buildings and pond themselves were not that impressive, but the scene as the sun was going down and the lighting of the place was awesome. Check out the pictures on picasa.
No comments:
Post a Comment