The Seoul metro is extensive and connects multiple cities in the surrounding areas with Seoul. Suwon is a city located about 1.5 hours south of Seoul, if you take the express subway.
Suwon is famous for Hwaseong, a walled city that was built from 1794 to 1796 by King Jeongjo of the Joseon dynasty.
The wall starts just a short walk away from the station and the first part covers a mountain, which offers great views.
From there it slowly descends into the land below and watchtowers start to appear alongside the wall.
It's time for a break and relax in the watchtower for a bit, enjoying the breeze on this 30-degrees day.
Continuing along the wall, the first gate appears. There's a gate on each side, along with a bunch of "secret passages", small retraced gates that aren't well visible from a distance.
The temperature kept climbing and that's unfortunate as from the mountain down, there's virtually no shadow along the inside of the wall.
A river runs through Suwon and the wall crosses the river twice, complete with guard posts of course.
If you like, you can take archery lessons or partake in other activities, but I still had a lot of wall to cover, so I moved on.
At almost full circle the wall crosses the river again. Some small part was not rebuilt after the Korean war, and is now part of the city center. You can also take a balloon ride to get a view from above.
The wall isn't just there to protect the city, it's mainly to protect Haenggung (meaning detached place), a palace for the king to reside when he's not in Seoul.
Behind the palace is a small pavilion with great views of the palace and city.
