South Korea, Part VII - Busan, the city of diversity

We start our visit to the metropolis at the Busan Tower. From the 120 metre high viewing platform, you have a good view of the city and the offshore islands. Around 3.5 million people live in South Korea's second largest city. Our first visit is to the UN Memorial Park, which is dedicated to the fallen UN soldiers of the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. It is the only UN cemetery in the world. We continue to the Buddhist Haedong Yonggungsa Temple near Busan. It is literally enthroned on a cliff. The path to the temple leads up a staircase with 108 steps lined with stone lanterns. Each one represents a worldly desire in the Buddhist sense.
Next is the Gamcheon Cultural Village, a picturesque district of Busan with colourful houses and works of art - once a slum founded by refugees from the Korean War. Over time, many of the houses stood empty and fell into disrepair. This changed in 2009 thanks to an initiative by residents, students, artists and the local government. They began to decorate the village as part of the Village Art Project, inviting artists and making empty rooms available to them rent-free. Gamcheon has since been transformed into a picturesque collection of art studios, shops and homes and has become a tourist attraction.
Next destination, the Gukje market, one of the oldest in Busan. It offers an enormous variety of goods and culinary delights. It too was once founded by Korean refugees to earn a living by selling smuggled or imported goods. Last but not least is the Jagalchi Fish Market. It is worth a visit all day long, not just in the morning when the fishermen bring their catch ashore. The emphasis here is on freshness, in fact all sea creatures still live here and are kept in pools. You can find everything that lives in the sea, from large octopuses and lobsters to sharks and sea cucumbers, snails and mussels.
In part 8 of the travelogue about Japan and South Korea, we head north to Ulsan and on to Gyeongju. A detailed travel report in German can be found at https://reiseinfo4you.de/japan-2024/