The GIC Tour Goes to Naju
GIC Culture Tour April 2013: Naju
Tour Date: April 20, 2013
Price: 40,000 won GIC members/50,000 won non-members
Features: (East Gate and Market — Geumseong-Gwan — Lunch Gomtang — ConfucianAcademy —Teahouse — Wansa-cheon — Bannam Go-bun — Soybean Farm Experience)
Picture gallery below.
April blossoms with the flowers of spring. It brings back the original, and the perennially enjoyable, GIC Culture Tour to Naju. Over the years this trip has been refined and expanded to its current robust itinerary with all of the best food, culture and nature in the province.
This year the first stop is the old East Gate of the city and the adjoining traditional market which sells of one Naju’s signature foods, fermented skate, or hong-eo. This pungent sinus clearing delicacy is unique to Naju; it is not for the faint of palate and it is sure to brighten any morning. Behind the market and outside the old fortress walls stands a one-thousand-year-old tutelary stone totem used for rituals of protection and prosperity for the capital city of Naju. Like a sentinel it looks over all of those who enter the city gates.
After a brisk introduction to the outskirts of the city, the tour moves to the historic center of Naju for a guided tour of the Joseon Dynasty era provincial governor’s residence and administration center along with a visit to the Naju museum. The highlight of this palace compound is the imposing royal “hotel” in Geumseong-Gwan, which dates from the late 1400’s. Gomtang is for lunch. No trip to Naju is complete without eating this hearty beef stew packed with energy for a day of traveling.
From the restaurant, participants can wander the streets and alleyways of the old aristocrats’ quarter finally arriving at the NajuConfucianAcademy, the second oldest of its kind in the country. This institution has been operational since the mid-fifteenth century and several buildings are extant from the school’s founding along with its beautiful 600-year-old ginkgo tree. Towering above and behind the academy is majestic Geumseong-san. Tea grows on this mountain and a visit to a lovely teashop nearby to drink tea enlivens the senses for enjoying the spring scenery.
Following teatime, the tour transfers by bus to Wansa-cheon, an important spring water well, where Wang Geon, the first king of the Goryeo dynasty met his queen and prepared his army for battle. From Wansa-cheon, the road is more than 15 kilometers of undulating pear orchards and fields to Bannam Go-bun, a pre-Baekjae burial site. The large burial mounds dwarf the surrounding landscape and provide a nice backdrop for a walking tour of the local farmland to a traditional soy sauce maker’s home.
At the soybean farm, participants can learn about the process for making soy sauce, soybean paste and roasted bamboo salt. Also, with arms deep in clay jars and hands full of soft paste, participants can do their fair share of the farm work, separating the soy sauce and mixing the bean paste. All products are organic and each participant receives a small bottle of soy sauce and a jar of bean paste as part of the experience! Additional items like pepper paste and bamboo salt can also be purchased directly from the producer.
This month come out and get your hands on the heartland of Jeollanam-do with the GIC Culture Tour!