Seoul Searching | Namsan Park.

On New Year's Day, the day before our flight back to the Philippines, the boys and I decided to visit Namsan with hopes of riding the cable car to get to N Seoul Tower, one of Seoul's leading landmarks.

Namsan Cable Car, which runs from the base of Namsan Mountain.

But alas, the queue for the cable car ride was already long and winding when we arrived, and we'd have to wait for more than an hour for our turn. I could not, for the life of me, stand in line for that long - let alone outdoors, in the dead of winter.

A cable car making its way towards the peak.

So instead of lining up for the cable car, the boys and I opted to hike our way up to Namsan Park. Well, it was more of my husband's decision actually. He was very optimistic when he said that we'd get to the peak in no time, and it seemed very convincing since lots of other tourists were walking uphill at that time. Some of them were even equipped with really cool walking sticks.

My enemy, the stairs.

We had to walk up a flight of stairs to get to the walking trail, and the first thing that we saw when we got there was this lovely traditional Korean restaurant called 'Mokmyeoksanbang'.

Mokmyeoksanbang.

Nope, we did not dine there as we had brunch before we left home.

My boys. :)

The walking paths around Namsan Mountain are well -developed, making it an easy crowd-pleasing hike. Along the way, you'll discover lots of little attractions, such as the Wa Ryong Mo Shrine.

Some information about the shrine.

A turtle statue. Not sure if this is related to the Turtle Ship of Admiral Yi Sun Shin.

There's another flight of stairs going up to the shrine, and I saw other tourists walking up so I followed suit.

More stairs.

Unfortunately, the door which seemingly leads to the shrine was closed so yeah, I walked all the way up for nothing. Darn this curiosity of mine, haha!

The boys did not want to go up, so they snapped this photo of me instead.

We went back to the walking trail, enjoying the view and taking a break every once in awhile whenever we see a bench.

Someone's starting to get tired.

A nice view of Myeongdong from this point. :)

But after thirty minutes of so or walking, the little man was starting to get tired and whiny. I was feeling a bit tired myself, and my poor lungs were having a hard time with the cold air.

Ice forming on the rocks. It was THIS cold.

The husband decided that we should go back, out of fear that I might have an asthma attack. I was a bit disappointed that we did not get to experience N Seoul Tower firsthand or even go as far as the Namsan Palgakjeong Pavilion, but I didn't want to push my lungs to its limits.

Walking... and walking... and walking...

Although the trees are barren, they're still a sight to behold.

I made a resolve to go back to Namsan this spring, when the air won't be as cold and when the cherry blossoms will be in bloom. Also, I'll make it a point to go there as soon as the cable cars begin operating, which is 10 in the morning. I'll be in line as early as 9 am! Haha!

So near yet so far.

Edited:

We finally made it to N Seoul Tower! Instead of riding the cable car, we took the Namsan Shuttle Bus no. 5 which passes by Myeongdong Station exit 3. The buses operate from 7:30 am to 11:30 pm, and stop at the Myeongdong Station every 15 minutes. The fare costs 1200 won in cash, and 1100 won with transportation cards.

We made it to the top!

The famous tower. :)

The love locks.

The lovers + the fruit of love, haha!

Namsan Park

231, Samil-daero, Jung-gu, Seoul
+82-2-3783-5900