It took an hour for the express train to shrug off Seoul’s suburban sprawl, then the first green paddy fields appeared. A patchwork of tiny plots squeezed in between rocky outcrops – 70% of the country is mountainous.
The train journey to the seventh century capital Kyongju was scenic, smooth and pleasurable. The top-of-the-range Saemaul express train is kitted out with airline-style seats and a stream of stewards come through the carriage selling lunch boxes, ice creams and iced coffee, so you can eat your way down the Korean peninsular.
Unlike Seoul, Kyongju is green and low-rise. The downtown area has had a preservation order, limiting new buildings to a height of 10 metres, which has banished Korea’s favoured Lego-style apartment blocks to the very outskirts.
The city is surrounded on all sides by forested mountains and the centre is well planted with pine trees, cherry trees, maples and willows. The city is beautiful in springtime when the trees come into bloom, although visitors need to time their visit to perfection as the blossom only lasts 10 days.
Around 8m people visit Kyongju’s palaces and temples every year, most of them Korean, with a scattering of Japanese and Americans. The town is overflowing with temples, palaces and tombs making it difficult to pack everything in one day, but if time is limited, visitors should head for Kyongju’s two United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage sites.
The first of these is the magnificent Pulguksa temple, with its brightly painted wood carvings and subtle stone pagodas, set among a landscape of maple trees – especially beautiful in the autumn.
Next up, the nearby Sokkuram grotto with its huge stone Buddha, dating back to the eighth century, is worth the hike up the mountain, even if you do have to fight your way to the front of the queue to see it. The view to the distant east sea is an added bonus.
For an insight into the sophisticated Shilla Kingdom that made the city its capital, it is worth spending a few hours at the national museum and flying-horse tomb museum. There you will see a vast collection of treasures that have been dug out of Kyongju’s distinctive burial tombs – immaculately mown grass mounds scattered throughout the city.
On display are gold and jade earrings and pendants, swords, spears and bronze bowls, as well as clay figurines of servants, buried with the kings to serve them in the afterlife.
If it is quiet contemplation you are looking for, head for the lesser-known relics, such as the simple Three Buddhas shrine, tucked away in the woods on Namsan mountain. It is especially peaceful viewed in evening candlelight.