Wednesday, February 22, 2012

N Seoul Tower

Who hasn't heard of the N Seoul Tower?
Morning View / Evening View


Talking about the N Seoul Tower is like talking about Mexico's Zocalo it's Mexico's landmark, I saw the Namsam cable car in My Name is Kim Sam Soon and of course it was a part of my "To Do" list while in Seoul.

Seoul Tower, also called Namsan Tower or, more recently, N Seoul Tower, is located in the centre of Seoul on Mount Namsan. Seoul Tower was opened to the public for the first time on the 15th of October 1980. Namsan Tower is 236.7 metres high and, because it stands on top of the Namsam Mount.

Rising 777 feet (237 metres) above the summit of Mount Namsan, a beautiful mountain in the centre of the city, at a height of 480 metres above sea level, the Tower is the most conspicuous of Seoul's landmarks.

It serves as an integrated telecom tower from which TV and FM radio signals are transmitted for the metropolitan area. In 30 seconds two express elevators ascend to a height of 135 metres to the Observation Platform.
Architect: Jong Youl Chang

There are different ways to get to the Tower.

1.- By Cable car. You can get to the cable car station by getting off at Myeongdong Station (Line n. 4, exit 3) and walking for ten minutes from the subway station.
Hours of operation: 10:00-23:00 (3-minute ride to N Seoul Tower) 
Fare: Round-trip - ages 13+ 7,500 won, ages 4-12 5,000 won
          One-way - ages 13+ 6,000 won, ages 4-12 3,500 won

You can take a bus at Chungmuro Station (line n. 3 or 4) or at Dongguk University Station (line 3), which will take you to the parking area of N Seoul Tower or you can do it on foot by walking 30 minutes from exit 3 of Myeongdong subway station (Line n. 4).

Inside the tower you can find the Teddy Bear Museum (8,000 won), restaurants, shops, cafés can also be found on the inside.

The Tower admission fee is  8,000 won, I believe you can get a discount if you buy tickets for the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (I don't remember very well...)

See? Mexico City on the Top and Seoul's view on the bottom
I went to the Tower and the Teddy Bear Museum (TBM) twice, first I went by myself when I took the Seoul Tour Bus, it was a Tuesday so it wasn't really crowded, I 1st pass the Tower by day but decided not to get off the bus on that stop and came back in the afternoon (aroun 5-6) so it was getting darker and I must say, the view is better at that time. On my 1st visit I only checked the outside of the Tower since it was a perfect time to take pictures and visited the Teddy Bear Museum since it was getting darker and colder I decided to take the 8pm bus back.





My second visit was in the Morning, this time I did go up to the Tower and enjoyed a lil bit of the view, we (This time I was with a group) also re-visited the TBM but we were in a hurry so we only spent like 1:30hrs in the Museum and Tower, the only regret I have is that I didn't get to take the Namsam Cable Car..I wanted to do that so badly :( but I guess I'll do it on my next visit to Seoul.

On the outside of the tower there's a Roof Terrace well known for the"Locks of Love", apparently it was shown in a TV show, where the main character attached a lock to the fence, ever since thousands of couples go there an attach their Lock of love with their names and a loving promise. On the inside of the tower you can find something like this, instead of locks there are tiles, you can buy them at the Gift shop, add a picture and just write whatever you feel like it.

Locks of Love / Lover's Message Tiles


On the inside of the Tower (before the Ticket booth) there's another shop, it's all about Kpop, I don't know much about Kpop so I just snaped a few shots of the merchandise (Shh! don't tell anyone because pictures there wasn't allowed!), I guess next time at least I'll know a couple of those groups :P

 















Kpop Merchandise / Me with a Huge Teddy Bear

-Gisela V.











No comments:

Post a Comment