Sometimes things just come together to make a visit a little more enjoyable. That was the case with my visit to Suwon to see this fortification.

I had already had an interesting morning trip to crazy world of the DMZ, so used the hour long metro ride south to recharge my batteries and admire the stunning clear crisp autumn day shining on the endless suburbs of Seoul. The train station at Suwon has a nice model of the fortress so I knew what to expect. I jumped on a bus and disembarked at the south gate which is now a traffic island and being restored. From here it was a surprisingly steep climb up for a few minutes, but by the time I had made my way to the top I was back in the bright sunshine and could really start to appreciate the impressive fortifications winding along the top of the hill. I really enjoyed this stretch of the walls. At one of the many pavilions on the walk I bumped into a group of school children who were learning English. They taught me about the history of the fort which was really nice and I found out their teacher was from just down the road from me when I lived in Dublin.

I carried on walking around the whole loop of the ramparts, enjoying the magnificent weather and taking an inordinate amount of pictures. The northern end of town offered some lovely pavilions and gates, so was very photogenic. The eastern side mostly looked out across the suburbs taking in the huge cathedral like Suwon First Church. I completed my lap and headed off into the local shops in search of something tasty to eat, and this being Korea, my options were plentiful and confusingly so were a large amount of shops selling second hand clothing.

It took me about 2.5 hours to do a lap, but if your time is limited I would recommend getting a bus to the Northern gate then heading to the Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion (Fredrick's picture below) before back tracking for the more strenuous hike along the western parts of the wall as I found those bits the most interesting.

This was perhaps the most enjoyable WHS visit I had in Korea, mostly thanks to the wonderful weather and the chance to get in a bit of a hike, but also the fortification is pretty impressive and a worthy WHS.

[Site 7: Experience 8]