Day 11: First day of Daegu

The first day of Daegu consisted mostly of optional activities. We could sleep in a little more than usual, so we were ready for the rest of the week.

Most of the people went to Gyeongju. This was the capital of the Silla kingdom that ruled the area from approximately 60 BC to 700 AC. They first visited the Daereungwon tomb complex, where they were allowed to enter one of the tombs. After getting some food, they went to the Cheomseom observatory and the Banwolseong fortress to get an astonishing view of the area. They also got to see how ancient rulers would parade through the city.

The small group that did not go to Gyeongju slept in a bit more and went on a walking tour through Daegu. During the tour, there were a lot of streets that were specific for a certain craft. We came through a street with a lot of hand made shoes shops, a street with only hardware stores and a street where only motorcycles and scooters were sold. But the main attraction and the end of the tour was the Dalseong park. This is a nice decent sized park that also has a little free zoo incorporated, and they had quite some animals, tigers, elephants, lions, zebras, chickens, seals, and a lot more.

To close off the day, the two groups came together again for a beautiful view of the sunset at the sunset observatory. Although it was a bit too cloudy to see the sunset properly, the effect of the clouds was still amazing to see. As it was starting to get late, we went down again to eat some Korean barbecue with the whole group. And to really put an end to the evening, we went up to the sunset observatory again to have a nice view of the city by night.