The first trip to Hwaseong Fortress was wonderful, but incomplete – my friend and I got sidetracked by the nearby markets. Although she wasn’t able to come for a second time, I had to go back and see more of the sights.

Originally built from 1794-1796, the fortress took 700,000 man-hours to build. Before this fortress was built, the prevailing line of defense was a wall and a separate mountain fortress for people to escape to. This time around, King Jeonjo – attempting to move the capital to Suwon from Seoul – built the fortress as both a way to defend the city and be a place to live. A paper entitled ‘Hwaseong Seongyeokuigwe’, or the Records of Hwaseong Fortress Construction, was finished shortly after the construction was. It’s always helpful to have the original records when you need to reconstruct it after a war, which they did in 1970 (Source: Wikipedia – which offers a surprisingly detailed page on the fortress). It’s unclear which buildings were reconstructed, and the signs are a little vague in saying when (or if) something was rebuilt.

This time I wanted to get off the beaten path and take a road less traveled to the fortress:

Suwoncheon (the stream) flows from the northern floodgate, called Buksumun.

A closer look at the floodgate – not quite a flood flowing through here anymore, but still an interesting sight. The Chinese characters on the sign translate to “the rainbow of Hwaseong”, in reference to the rainbow you might see in the mist just below the gate.

Take the stairs up to look down, and to begin walking around the castle’s perimeter:

While it doesn’t look like a lot, it’s flat in most sections and relatively easy to walk. Inside the fortress were very few people – presumably normal for a weekday afternoon.

My first attempt at an HDR photo – what do you think? The building is named Bukdongporu, or the Northeastern Sentry Post. Built in-between two gates, it served as both a lookout post and a place to attack from.

The Bukdongchi, or northeastern turrent-like section of the fortress wall. There’s ten of them scattered around the perimeter and in-between gates.

Entering Bukdongjeokdae – the northeastern gate turret / half-circle built to defend attackers. You have to remember the use of a fortress here, ok?

Another HDR picture that came out quite nice – this is Bukporu, or the northern sentry post. There are five of these buildings – and yes, it is hard to tell them apart without the signs. The doors are also locked, but there’s nothing to see inside.

The Seobukgongsimdon – quite a mouthful. Seo means west, buk is north, and gongsimdon is watchtower – thus the northwestern watchtower. This fortress had the first ever watchtowers of this design, and three of them are part of the fortress as it exists today; the other two are in the southern and northeastern areas. Each has three levels, with ladders inside to move easily from one floor to another.

Hwaseomun, or the western gate (seo = west, while mun = gate or door). Construction completed in 1796, and was considered the gateway to the western coastal areas of Gyeonggi-do.

Seobukgangnu -the northwestern pavilion that was great for resting – or for some, taking a nap. Note the ‘pillows’ for the left and center gentlemen.

Stairs, or a hill. Take your pick – it’s a climb either way.

One can only imagine what the horizon looked like 200+ years ago…

More – huff – stairs – huff – how many – huff – more stairs – are there? Wear your hiking boots and pack some water, people – we’re headed to the top:

Welcome to Seojangdae, or the western command post. The highest part of the climb – and the one that required all those stairs – has a twin on the eastern side. The sign about Seojangdae claims King Jeonjo himself personally commanded troops from this post at one point.

Seonodae, or the western crossbow tower. It’s octoganol in shape, built to set plenty of arrows in motion, and has a twin on the northeastern side.

Another look out from the ancient city into the modern one. Although it looks huge, try to remember that it has just over a million people as of 2008.

The Seoammun, or western secret gate. Used to bring in people or firepower from the outside, they supposedly take advantage of the lay of the land to avoid being seen. There’s supposed to be five, but the other four were well hidden – I never saw them.

The ‘secret gate’ from the outside. From here, I noticed a trail around the outside of the fortress:

A series of steps gradually leading down the mountain and away from the fortress.

Eventually, I came to one of the ‘proper’ entrances you would come to if you had driven to the site. Not pictured at the entrance is the usual ticket box office.

The bell of Filial Piety, rung three times on the hour from 10am-6pm daily. You could also pay 1,000 won ($0.80 USD) to ring the bell yourself, showing gratitude to your parents, wishing for your family’s health and harmony, and to wish for the realization of your dreams.

The umpteenth reminder (from this traveler’s viewpoint) that this site is a UNESCO World Heritage site. I say from this traveler’s viewpoint because as usual, I don’t necessarily enter through the ‘proper’ entrance or exit out the ‘proper’ exit. In this case, my exit was made where most cars would enter. If you’re coming from the subway or taking the bus (as described at the end of the post), this area may be the last part you see as well.

One final treat before getting back to civilization – one of four dolmens, or stone graves from the Bronze Age, in the area. Essentially, a hole is dug, a body is placed inside, a lid goes on top, and the stone goes on top of that. And you thought building the pyramids was hard.

Hwaseong Fortress is a treat – but a hike. The city has far outgrown these original boundaries, yet the city still keeps the fortress close to them. Since the city grew around the fortress (it is in the center of things, after all), most of the fortress is surrounded by roads – some major, some minor. It’s worth a full day of exploration – after a few hours of hiking and photographing in the mid-day sun I was wiped. There’s plenty to see on the weekends, including some various performances in the afternoons. Just follow the music or the people.

Directions to Hwaseong Fortress: take line 1 of the Seoul subway system to the Suwon station (it’s on the fork of line 1 that goes to Cheonan and Sinchang). As of this visit, there were enough signs for even the greenest Korean expat to find their way. Take exit 4 or 5, then walk straight to the first bus stop you see. Any number of buses head to Paldalmun – the front / main gate – or Hwaseong Fortress, including buses 11, 13, 13-3, 20, 32, and 58. Admission is 1,000 won; while the path I walked along the fortress wall is not wheelchair / stroller friendly, some areas inside the fortress are.