The old keep, 관덕정 (Gwandeokjeong)

Late Saturday afternoon Brian and I went for a stroll down to the old city center:

Located at the center of downtown Jeju city, designated as the national treasure No. 322, Gwandeokjeong is one of the most familiar landmark for citizens used as a meeting place or milestone to locate other places. In 1448 during the reign of King Sejong, Jeju minister Shin Sukcheong constructed this building in order to train soldiers and build martial spirit.

Standing outside the city center gate are guards dressed in the traditional Korean garb; tourists come and pose next to them for pictures, much like the guards at Buckingham Palace.



With a quick flash of our residence cards we stroll inside the old city grounds. The atmosphere was very quiet, and while there isn't much to do, there is still some interesting sights.



They keep some of the older wooden bulls that they drag through the streets from the new City Hall to here. It's one of the most interesting festivals on the island, sadly it took place during the work day earlier this year:

According to Jeju myth, “ipchun,” or the coming of spring, is known as the time for 18,000 spirits to descend from heaven to do their new year's job on the earth. The time will be celebrated with a street parade, "gayageum" the traditional twelve-string zither and percussion playing, tightrope walking by intangible property number 58, an “anabana” market place that allows barter trade, calligraphy performance, tea ceremony and more.

To mark the occasion, they drag a wooden bull through the streets getting drunk on soju and makgeolli. Later, the bull is burned at the Fire Festival.

The old buildings here used to serve as the City Hall and military jurisdiction. Most of the buildings have plaques with English explanation.



The best view comes from the terrace of a building near the back, which also serves as a change room for the guards.


Although we missed the changing of the guard, we still got to see them come in for day when the bell struck six.



It's a nice place to stop by, but it's a more suitable place to visit when you're wandering around downtown. It's another remnant of Tamna that brings you back to that older Jeju culture.

Photo by Brian Miller