Friday – March 27, 2026 – Busan
Today’s featured photo is of something you would never want to put on your feet – golden slippers. They would not be comfortable and would probably cut your feet due to the sharp edges. But they would look cool! These slippers were discovered as part of the burial items in a tomb in the shape of a spherical mound. More about those later in this post.
Today we arrived at Busan, South Korea. My only background on this city is that they have had some spectacular fireworks/drone shows along the beach not far from where Magnifica docked. The area where we docked is different than any we have seen either this year or last. There are many acres that appear to have been reserved for people to use for recreation – trails, benches and even camping spots (with electrical). There is a photo in the gallery that illustrates this. When we arrived Friday morning, some, but not all of the camping spots were in use. When we left that evening, only a few remained open.
Our excursion today will take us outside Busan to see a temple, an open tomb (and many unopened) and a museum. Our guide today is a young woman named Nana. She has a doll she has named Nano that is on a pole so we can locate her in crowds when she holds the pole above her head. Nana likes beer, lots of exercise and partying. She works as a guide 100 days a year to cover expenses and uses the remainder of the time doing whatever she likes. She appears to know her stuff (Korean history) and also speaks Italian quite well (at least judging by the response from the majority of the people on our bus and they are Italian).
Our first stop today is the Bulguksa Temple – considered to be historic and scenic site number 1 by the South Korean government. Buildings and items in the compound are listed as national treasures. You’ll find those in the linked article and can match them with the photos in today’s gallery (I didn’t take the time to do that for you). The compound is located about 60 miles North of Busan so we had time in the bus for Nana to give us some history of the country and the temple (which was built in the 8th century). It also gave me time to observe the vehicles on the road – primarily Kia, Hyundai, Genesis, BMW and Mercedes. There is a distinct lack of American and Japanese vehicles in South Korea for some reason.
The temple area is large, and we walked uphill on a wide paved (with stones) path first passing through an arched gate. The weather was pleasant – 60’s and sunny. You’ll find many photos in the gallery from the temple. I was fascinated by the intricate woodwork and painting of that woodwork. There are also several photos in which bright colored lanterns with prayer slips are shown. I photographed one Buddha statue but stopped after that because I was told not to take photos of the Buddhas. You’ll also see that Spring has arrived in the area – a selfie of us with flowering magnolia trees in the background. The temple area was beautiful and I wish I could remember all that Nana told us about it. The Wiki link in the previous paragraph should give you a good idea what we experienced. On the way back to the bus I asked Nana and Nano to pose for a picture with Jan and Kelsey – so you can see her – with the exception of her eyes (photo-grey lenses).
Nana advised us that other buses would be visiting the sites we are scheduled to see. She made the decision to drive to the next site now rather than waiting until after we have lunch in the hope there would be fewer tourists. Her choice paid off as we did not encounter as many tourists as we arrived at Gjeongju Daereungwon. At this site are several above-ground burial sites – one of which we were able to tour. These were similar in intent to the sites at the Valley of Kings in Egypt (i.e., nobility buried with what they might need in the afterlife). There is a map of the area we visited in the gallery. We entered at number “7” and saw the tomb by number “3”.
The contents of the tomb included many gold items – like the golden slippers shown as today’s featured photo. The interior of the tomb was displayed so we could see both the items buried and the construction used to create the burial mound. Here, too, the magnolia trees were in bloom. I wish we could be back in Iowa to watch as the flowering trees come to life! We don’t plan to take a World Cruise in 2027 so perhaps we will have that opportunity next March/April/May.
Back in the bus after passing the “See You Again” sign as we left the burial area. We drove to our restaurant for lunch – it wasn’t far. I didn’t get the name of the restaurant and on iMaps it just appears as “Korean Cuisine”. We sat at tables set for 8. There was food on the tables when we arrived – like “family style” we are used to at the Amana restaurants (but not the same kind of salads, breads and vegetables). I especially liked the kimchi – not so much the soy nuts. Soon after being seated we were brought a wok-like pan with beef, onions and rice noodles. I added this mix to my bowl of rice and dug in. This was a very nice lunch which I would like to eat somewhere again. For whatever reason, one of the ladies at our table didn’t eat anything.
We had some time after finishing lunch before we needed to board the bus, so we walked around the area to see what we could see. First thing we noticed was a place to purchase fortunes. There were dispensers on a wall where you put in a coin, turn a knob and out comes a yellow plastic ball with a fortune inside. After reading the fortunes, people would tie the pieces of paper on strings placed above and below the dispensers. We didn’t have any Korean coins so didn’t get a fortune. My assumption is the printing was in Korean so we wouldn’t have known what it said had we received one. Flowers were blooming – daffodils near the fortune dispensers. There were more buildings with elaborate woodwork and painting so I included a photo in the gallery. We saw locals in what looked like formal clothes. They were renting scooters to ride around. We came to an area where tourists were in trains like they use at Disney World to bring people in from the parking lot. But these trains had engines that looked like large insects with bright colors. There is a photo of that in the gallery as well. On the street near the parking lot were more of the burial mounds – photos/video of them in the gallery as well.
It was time to board the bus and travel to the National Museum. At the museum we were able to see the sequence as the tombs were discovered and opened. The first gold crown was found at Geumgwanchong Tomb. The museum houses a large collection of artifacts from the tomb. There is one display which shows how the crown was worn with other pieces. I had Jan stand behind the crown so it would look like she was wearing all the jewelry – didn’t turn out as well as I wanted but you can get the idea. We spent about an hour at the museum and on the way out couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a selfie in front of a large bell with wooden striker. We also noticed an unusual sign on the way back to the bus – “Beware of snakes and bees”!
One of the people who joins us for breakfast likes to play golf. On the way back to Busan I noticed several “netted” driving ranges so I got snaps of those and included them in the gallery – just like PinSeekers next to I-380! As we were driving I received an alert on my iPhone – but the writing was Korean. I asked Nana what it meant – she said it was a notice for dry conditions in the area.
Along the road there were trees/bushes that had been trimmed into unusual shapes – included those in the gallery as well. Many people in Busan live in high-rise buildings. Included a photo of some of those for reference – they were everywhere.
When back in our cabin we heard music and looked below to see performers entertaining those returning to the ship. There were several sets of performers and included some people in cartoon-like costumes. While watching the performers we noticed that the camping spots had filled in from the morning. Many pitched tents and some spots with space for a vehicle as well.
The evening’s entertainment was Cristian with a virtual band performing well-known hits from famous guitarists. I included stills and video from some of the songs – which I’m sure you will recognize. Cristian is a whiz-kid on the guitar – I suppose that comes from his 36 years playing it. Tomorrow we have a day at sea then Sunday we begin our short off-ship visit in China. The three of us are excited to see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Will report on each of these soon.
Here you can view today’s gallery.