Seoul is divided into two different sections by the Han River, there is a South Seoul and then a North Seoul. The bus from Dongtan stops at Gangnam station, on the south side of Seoul at one of the busiest express terminals. From Gangnam, we took the Seoul Subway to Namdaemun Market, one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in Seoul.
The subway was as easy as can be. Not only do they have interactive maps at the terminal, all of the signs were in English. I haven’t been on many subways in my life, but it was by far the easiest I have ever experienced.
After crossing the Han River by subway, it was very easy to find Namdaemun Market. This market is located in the center of Seoul. Namdeamun market dates back to 1414, during the reign of King Taejong, as a government managed marketplace. In 1608, a new king set up an office in the district to manage the tributes of rice, cloth and money. A trading marketplace took its form around that time and commercial activities began as traders set up their various shops.
The Market turned to ruins during the Korean War when it went up in fire in 1953. In 1954 the Seoul Namdaemun Market Co. Ltd. Was founded to rebuild the market, but during 1968 and 1975 fires destroyed the market.
In 2007, the city of Seoul announced plans to renovate the market and renovations are continuing now in 2010.
We spent a great number of hours browsing up and down the different alleys. My favorite alleys were the food alleys where I enjoyed a nice heaping bowl of rice cake dumpling soup costing only 5,000 Won ($4.00)
Some of the other alleys in the market we ventured to were noodle alley, souvenir alley, fish alley (you can imagine the smell of the alley), army supplies alley, stationary alley, and more!
Here are some snapshots of the Market...
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