Gamcheon Cultural Village

Gamcheon Cultural village comes up frequently when you google Busan and is one of Busan's major tourist attractions. It's known for its colourful houses perched on a hill. We could tell we were going to a touristy place because while waiting for the bus there. Everyone at the bus stop was speaking English (and I noticed a few French speakers).

Apparently, the town was settled in the 1920s and 30s by people of the Taegeukdo religion, and the placement of houses so that no ones view would be obstructed by another house was part of their belief in sharing. In the 50s and 60s there was a large influx of refugees from the Korean war who moved to the neighbourhood - it was quite a poor neighbourhood. According to wikipedia, it sounds like the government had artists and professionals fix up the area in 2009 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamcheon_Culture_Village) and now they use proceeds from Tourism to support Welfare services for the people who live there.

When you arrive at the tourist information centre, you can pay $2 (2000 won) for a map and three postcards. The map includes information about the cafes and museums along the walk, as well as places to stamp off the locations you've visited. You can also just wander around without paying for the map but it was nice to get some information about the village (also it was $2)! The proposed walk is only 2 km but there are lots of stairways and other ares to explore! There are a number of signs reminding you to be quiet because people live there. I saw one sign that said "Grandmas have long ears! Please be quiet."

Here's the stamp map! We accidentally missed some locations and some were closed for the holiday.

It seems like there was also the option to rent a hanbok (Korean traditional dress) and take photos in the area all dressed up.

After exploring the town we stopped at a cute cafe called Coffee It House. Cafes have become a regular part of our outings and we've found some super cute ones! Cafe here just means "meeting spot" and they don't necessarily serve coffee. This one had a beautiful view on every floor and the lady running the cafe was kind enough to find us sitting in the one spot without a view and tell us to go to the basement for a view.

Here's a bunch of photos from the visit!

Cam on the roof of the cafe

"House with Puppies"

Bookstore stairs

I found this statue so funny

Photo from the cafe basement

Cafe basement

Coffee It House basement