Bicycle Tour of Gyeong-Ju: Day 2 (BulGukSa Temple)

Of all the temples I have visited to this point in Korea, I enjoyed this one the most but got to spend the least amount of time in it. There was something about the place that just radiated calm to me. In a couple of halls monks were chanting, one of my favorite sounds in the world. I don't have a lot of words to tell you about th temple, but I can tell you a bit about some of the things I saw...

 

 

The Dabotap Pagoda, "Pagoda of Many Treasures"... is found on the flip-side of the 10won coin (thank you Wiki, I had no idea!). It was built in the year 751, and has been repaired after being damaged from an attempted theft (theives used dynamite to blow it open and get to the treasures, but they were scared off before they could get anything). You can see one stone lion on the staircase, but the 3 on the other staircases are not there. One is apparently in a museum in London, the other 2 are MIA. The pagoda is unlike others seen in different Buddhist countries because of the way it is built (its structure is unique to South Korea) and the ornateness of the carving/decoration.

Golden seated Buddha statue inside a temple

Seokgatap Pagoda, directly across from Dabotap in front of the temple

Amazing roof lines and tile ends, a guardian at the corner

More rooflines, I love them!

Beautiful lines, blossoms, so beautiful

Amazingly busy and beautiful pagoda housing

I think these things were kept for luck, but hopefully I will become better informed soon... honestly, I just thought they looked cool  :)

A beautiful walkway over the pond that leads to a literary museum

That was the majority of our last day... well, that and getting our bikes picked up and brought back to the rental shop. We had some more amazing food and then spent almost 6 hours on the bus back to Seoul. I managed to catch the very last train connection back from Seoul and arrived back at my apartment by 11pm, safe and sound and fairly exhausted. What a beautiful weekend it was...