Gyeongju Eupseong Fortress Walls
Right around the corner from the train station is a curious piece of recent Gyeongju history (recent being it’s only a couple hundred years old rather than 1,500). Over the last year or two the city’s been taking pains to restore the old Chosun era city walls and battlements of Gyeongju Eupseong (East fortress).
Gyeongju Eupseong Fortress Walls
As it’s one of the few structures still standing from the Chosun era, it’s worth taking a couple of minutes to check out. The tress growing into the battlements strike an impressive pose, and if you go around back, you can climb up and walk along the top of the wall (don’t really know if you’re supposed to though).
Gyeongju Eupseong Fortress Walls
They don’t have any English info up yet; just a sign in Korean with some old photos from the end of the Chosun era. I do know that by the time of the Japanese occupation, the population of Gyeongju had shrunk to a mere 80,000, from its peak of a million during the unified Shilla. The area making up the walled city of Gyeongju from a hundred years ago you could walk across in less 15 minutes.
Gyeongju During the Chosun Dynasty
If you want a taste of what the city might’ve been like back then, wander around the neighborhood behind the Gyeongju Eupseong wall. With its winding streets and old courtyard-style houses, it’s pretty cool. It’s one of the few old neighborhoods left in the city, as most have been torn down over the last few years. Don’t really know how much longer this one’s going to be around for either, so check it out while you can.
Old Style House, Dongbuk-dong
Directions: Go straight from the train station to your 2nd light, and turn right at the Dunkin Donuts and Woori Bank. The walls of Gyeongju Eupseong are half a block down on your left. They’re hard to miss.
