South Korea with Iris

I often get asked what to see in Korea, where to go, what to eat, and so on. Many prefer non-touristy or unusual places. If you search for "top places to visit in Seoul" on Google or other search engines, you'll get royal palaces, shopping streets, museums, and so on. These are the most popular and touristy spots. But I want to share another spot. I want to tell you about a bookstore and give you 9 reasons why you should visit it :) When you mention a bookstore to people, many think, "That's boring, it's just a place to buy books." In reality, bookstores in Korea are more than just places with books. There are many bookstores. The most popular bookstore chain in Korea is Kyobo. They are in almost every district and they are usually quite large. But I want to tell you about another bookstore - Arc N Book. It's in the heart of modern Seoul, in Lotteworld Mall. The store is much smaller than Kyobo stores, but that doesn't make it any less ...

In Korea, there are numerous festivals throughout the year, but I particularly love flower festivals. Each season brings different blooms , and in Korea, entire fields of these flowers are cultivated, creating picturesque scenes perfect for Instagram photos. Primarily, these festivals are aimed at attracting tourists, but it's hard to convey the emotions and feelings one experiences when surrounded by seas of beautiful flowers. Walking along these fields, you can even catch a faint aroma of the blooms. During the summer, various flowers come into bloom, resulting in a succession of different flower festivals. Among all these festivals, I want to highlight my top 3 favourites. Lotus Festival Firstly, there are the lotus festivals . Their blooming season just started. Did you know lotus seeds can live for over 1000 years? They are probably the hardiest seeds. Additionally, the lotus is a symbol of Buddhism. Honestly, I didn't realize lotus stems could be so...

Do you remember that I had a day trip a couple of weeks ago? I started with Seosan city then visited International Tulip Festival , and in the end, I have been to Ganwoldo. And I will tell you about that beautiful place now. About Ganwoldo Ganwoldo is an island with an area of 0.88 km2, a coastline of 11 km, and a highest point of 70m. And it belongs to Seosan city. It was a small island located in Cheonsu Bay, but it is now land, not the sea, due to a large-scale reclamation project in 1984. First of all, there is an amazing view. Despite on wind, I enjoyed each minute spent there. One of the main attractions here is a Ganwolam Welcome to Ganwolam If you go to Ganwol-do, you can meet a mysterious and beautiful hermitage floating on the water. There is a baby island in Ganwol-do. This little island is open twice a day at high tide and low tide, about 30m long, and becomes an island and land. On this palm-sized island, there is a small-sized Ganwolam. A story of Ganwolam Ganwoldo means...

Last time we visited Seosan city that was the first destination on my day trip. Today I invite you to continue our tour and visit International Tulip Festival. Location International Tulip Festival takes a place in the big and beautiful Korea Flower Park which is located in Taean-gun. The address of the park is 400 Kkotjihaean-ro, Anmyeon-eup, Taean-gun, Chungcheongnam-do. The name of the park tells by itself. The park is full of flowers and during the year park government organizes different flower festivals. And one of the most popular festivals is International Tulip Festival Dates Usually, the festival goes on April-May. This year it was from April 9th till May 10th. About the festival Usually, there are plenty of amazing flower exhibitions, activities, stores, and experiences during the festival. However, this year all activities and experiences were cancelled due to COVID-19. BUT! The beauty of the exhibition and flowers covers all these imperfections. More than 200 sorts of tul...

Another day another travel story! Now I travel much more than I did it before. And it is not because of the corona. It is because of my schedule and weather… and of course, laziness ^^ But get ready, I plan to catch up with it! Last Saturday I went on a day trip with my friends, and I want to share with you my travel story. And our first destination is Seosan City which is located in South Chungcheong Province. About Seosan City The population is about 170,000 people. There is only one university Hanseo which is a private university. Do you know Korean singer Rain?! Seosan is his hometown. So that is one more reason to visit that city. Haemieupseong Fortress One of the main attractions here is Haemieupseong Fortress which represents Joseon Dynasty architecture. Unlike many other fortresses in Korea, Haemieupseong Fortress was built on a flat plain area. The construction of the fortress was completed in 1491. The fortress was protecting the city from Japanese pirates. The South gates of...