DAY
Geojedo Plus / 9 hours
Tour Highlights
- POW Camp
- Lacquerware Museum
- Tongyeong Jungang Market
- Dinosaur Museum
Busan - Geojedo - Busan (- - -) 250km
Today, you will experience the deepest highway on earth, Geoga bridge, a 8.2km-long bridge which is a combination of two cable-stayed bridges built on the open sea, a number of approach bridges and tunnels built on three islands in the middle and a 3.7km-long immersed tube constructed 48m below mean water level.
Geoje is a shipbuilding Mecca featuring several natural harbors. And once was the final port of call of the SS Meredith Victory at Christmas 1950. It is best known for evacuating more than 14,000 refugees in a single mission in the largest humanitarian rescue operation by a single ship during the Korean War.
There’s time to visit the POW Camp which at one time held around 170,000 prisoners in 28 facilities until an armistice was concluded in 1953. The former camp has been reborn as a historic park with various exhibition halls that help visitors comprehend the actual situation at the time and gives visitors an up close lesson on the devastating consequences of the war. POW camp accommodated 150,000 North Korean soldiers and 20,000 Chinese soldiers.
Tongyeong is a traditional seaport of great charm and historical interests. Tour the Dongpirang village where you will enjoy witty and delightful murals and sweeping view of Tongyeong harbor. This village was on the verge of being torn down, but what were once shabby houses now welcome visitors with radiant colors. On a long stretch of quay-side is Jungang market, and you will witness a lively atmosphere as vendors and visitors try to make a deal. Rows of seafood restaurants and local eateries offer anything that comes from the ocean, the sights, sounds and smells of a fishing port. At the nearby Gangguan port, you may want to step in to the replica turtle ship from the 16th century. Later, you will visit Lacquerware Museum and marvel at the sophisticated craftsmanship and nacre lacquerwares that have long been admired and sought after by collectors and aficionados worldwide.
Goseong is an area where dinosaur fossil sites formed in the Cretaceous Period of the Mesozoic Era. Remains are scattered around, traces of fossilized dinosaurs are found in old rocks and enormous footprints can still be seen. You also tour the Dinosaur Museum exhibiting skeletons, footprint fossils, models, and fossils of dinosaurs.
Tide permitting, explore dinosaur footprints which is considered one of the top dinosaur sites in the world - the top three being: Goseong, a site in Colorado, and Argentina's tracks. A raised boardwalk enables you to casually stroll along at low or high tide and view the huge diversity of tracks. The black layers of sediment rock lie slightly tilted toward the sea, and on these tilted sheets are the footprints of the ancient giants, which are virtually the only physical traces of their passing. The best viewing time is at low-tide, as few tracks can be seen when the gentle lap of water washes around the feet of the boardwalk that circles around two rocky promontories and curls along a wide beachy area.
