The Seoul Walking Tour App Brings Me To....Tapgol Park!

With all these years living in Seoul, I have never been inside the Tapgol Park.  I noticed this park on my first few months in the city while studying the Korean language at one of the more popular language schools in Jongno. Tapgol Park was just across the street and I could see it from my classroom window!  I even remember one time I cited Tapgol Park as an example for the Korean word kong-won, meaning, park, during one boring afternoon in the classroom. So, in Korean, it's 'Tap-gol kong-won'.

And one not-so-boring afternoon on my way to my friend Ruth's rooftop party at Somerset Palace Seoul, I passed by Tapgol Park to see for myself what's in it. I was ready to use the Seoul Walking Tour app on my smartphone to guide me around.

  "Tapgol Park was the first urban park of Seoul. It's not only a place to relax in the middle of the downtown area, but it is also a historical landmark where the March 1st Movement began", says the app.  

The Seoul Walking Tour app has everything you need to know about a specific tourist spot. It has a short written description of the place, a couple of audio files which narrate in English the history and what one can see in the place, photographs and most important, a map! I wouldn't actually need a map just to locate Tapgol Park, but for a tourist with a little knowledge of Seoul, this map will be very helpful for him or her to locate where to find Tapgol Park in the city.

The Seoul Walking Tour app also provides the Travel Info phone number and the list of other attractions included in the app. 

As I walked around Tapgol Park this afternoon, I saw old and young locals, and a few foreign tourists just sitting on the Palgakjeong Pavilion, the octagonal resting place in the middle of the park. I just wandered around for a few minutes listening to the audio file narrated by a familiar voice. I wonder if the narrator is that guy from Arirang News.

So, if you're travelling around Cheonggye Stream, the Gwanghwamun Plaza and the Jongno area, the Seoul Walking Tour app is a good companion to show you around. I downloaded the file for free from Google Play.

Now, I have seen the inside (and not just from my classroom window!) and been educated about Tapgol Park and how important this park is to the Independence Movement in particular and to the Korean history in general. 

My next stop....Insa-dong!