The MS Hotel offered a complimentary breakfast, one you could could eat in the reception area or take back to the room, so breakfast in bed it was !!
Great to sit in bed munching breakfast whilst looking out at the sea view from seven floors up.
Just one thing on our agenda today, visiting Gamcheon Culture Village, this is a spectacular town perched on a steep hill with house all painted in different colours. This town attracts artists and ‘cultural’ activities and has several self guided walks laid out to help you around it.
Getting there looked to be a challenge, although it actually turned out to be pretty straightforward in the end, our only problem was getting off at the wrong floor from the metro station lift, ending up in the hospital above it!
Plenty of signs point the way and picking up a local bus soon had us at the beginning of the village and the guest centre.
Map in hand we set off to complete the full tour around the town, something we later realised was a rarity as half way around we realised there was nobody else walking it other than us.
Gamcheon houses are tiny, so are the gift shops and cafes scattered along the route but each one is unique and adds to the charm of the place. Shops only hold a few people at a time, some cafes are takeaway only but this gives you chance to eat and enjoy the view down the hillside to the harbour way off in the distance. Our walk was a delight, the route winding around the town allowing us to see and enjoy a lot of art installations, lots of trees in blossom and enjoy the general peace of the village.
Our first attempt at catching a bus, the 1-1, back to the station went slightly awry when it got to the top of the hill, stopped and everyone was told to get out, we were baffled but took the opportunity to grab a snack and picked up another bus later. Bus number 2-2 took us back to the metro stop and we made it back to Haeundae and went straight out to eat at a noodle bar we’d spotted the day before, Gupo Noodle. Huge hot bowls of noodles appeared and we were both pleasantly full afterwards. Great price too.
Another stroll along the promenade, this time circling the nearby Westin hotel, briefly stopping at the APEC Climate center, a venue recently used for a world summit. Our route then took us around the rocky promontory, passing a lighthouse and the mermaid statue before ending up back on the promenade. Karen went for a paddle in the Sea of Japan, before we ended up back at the foot spa soaking our feet in the hot water.
After a brief stop for a tea back at the hotel it was out again to grab some evening snacks from the food market, starting with Tempura vegetables, then honey hotteoks wrapped up with an assortment of bread from a bakery next door. As it had suddenly turned cold we ate these back in our room with a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf drink from the store next to the hotel.
To wrap up our day, beer was needed and a visit to the very nearby Galmegi brewery was made. Unsure of which of their many beers to order, we tried a sampler of four of their ales; one of which wasn’t too nice but the remaining three were. Once the samples were drunk we each ordered a pint of our favourite and some food too. Our evening was slightly marred by two very noisy American families with incredibly precocious children who dominated the entire bar.
mrandmrsyoung 