DAY 22-24. South Korea

On the 17th of April, 2015 Celebrity Millenium arrived to South Korea. Our 1st port of call in South Korea was Busan, which is the 2nd largest metropolis after Seoul  with the population of approximately 3.6 milion people.

It is the largest port city in South Korea and the world’s 5th busiest seaport cargo. The city is located on the southeastern-most tip of the Korean peninsula.

When I looked around from the main deck it was clear that the city is modern and huge. The downtown is 20 minutes from the terminal. Busan has 3 main metro lines with almost 100 stops. The ticket is affordable, 1200 won (1.2 USD), and the daily pass is 4500 won (4.5 USD). The metro is nice and clean, the stations are very clean and very well organised. It takes a long time (approximately 1 hour) to get from downtown to a suburban area.

The 1st places of interest was the Jagalchi Fish Market. This is a huge fish market with plenty of different fishes and seafoods. Visitors have a chance to try the fresly catched fish. It is too oily!

After this I went by metro to one of Korea’s great temples, to Beomeosa Temple. This large complex is located up in the mountains. The buildings have been destroyed and rebuilt many times since they were founded in 678.  It was a nightmare to get there by metro and taxi. The taxi driver did not speak english and it eventuated some adversarial situation.

After the temple I went to Haeundae beach, which is one of the most popular summer destinations in South Korea. The beach is really nice, surrounded by nice hotels, but the beach is public, anyone can use it.

15 minutes taxi drive from the beach (8 USD) there is the Yonggungsa Temple. The name means dragon palace temple. This fine and axtremely popular Buddhist temple complex spreads along shoreline, decidedly unusual in Korea where most temples are at the top of a darn steep hill. The temple is very beautiful and the No. 1. spectacle in Busan.

My last brief stop was at the Busan Tower, which is 118 meter tall. Honestly this is not a nice building.

On the whole it was a nice day, took almost 8 hours to visit all the places by public transport. The prices are European, not cheap, higher than the Asian average.

The people are not as friendly as in other part of Asia. The coolness is appreciable.

  Early next morning the ship has arrived to Jeju Province, which is one of the nine provinces of South Korea. The island lies in the Korea Strait, southwest of South Jeolla Province, of which was a part before it became a separate province in 1946. Its capital is Jeju City.

Today I choosed a tour which was organised by the ship. It was a good decision, it had many stops on very nice spots, the only negative thing was the weather. Full day rain again, hovever this is the most popular touristic season in Jeju.

The tour visited the following places of interest: Mysterious road, Yeomiji botanical garden, Cheonjeyeon waterfall, Jusangjeoli cliffs. We also had a lunch, which was my worth Asian food in my life. Everything had the same strange taste, it was horrible!

Jeju was chosen as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature through the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign.

Our 3^rd destination in South Korea, obviously the capital city Seoul. This is the largest metropolis of South Korea with over 25 million people.
 Situated on the Han River, Seoul's history stretches back more than two thousand years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty.
Today, Seoul is considered a leading and rising global city, resulting from an economic boom called the Miracle on the Han River which transformed it from the damage of the Korean War to the world's 4th largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$774 billion in 2012 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles.

Today I choosed an organised tour called Seoul highlights.

The 1st surprise  was the port of  Incheon. This is probably the World most rubbish cruise port. This is just a dock with no buildings, in the middle of nowhere. OMG!

It took 80 minutes from here to Seoul. The royal palace, the Folk Art museum, the Antique street and the fleet market was int he program, with lunch.

In front of the Folk Art museum, there is a very strange statue. 

The museum itself is nice and interesting, 30 minutes is more than enough to visit.

The Royal Palace is similar to the Beijing Forbidden city, but much smaller and less attractive.

The old town and the fleet market could be anywhere int he world, but from the food products is visible that we are in South Korea. Today the lunch was significantly better, than yesterday.