Gyeongju is known as Korea's open air museum being the historical capital of the Shilla Dynasty for over a 1000 years. A short hours bus ride from Daegu I've visited many times during my stay. Biking is a popular option and something surprisingly I've never done during my stay or many visits.

This weekend I decided to try something different and explore the many biking trails away from the centre and most famous sights. I had already been spending the weekend in Gyeongju having arrived the previous evening and visiting the Teddy Bear Museum and Golgulsa Temple this morning (see previous entries).

Bike rental places are in abundance and are as common as convenience stores in Gyeongju. Not only can you rent bicycles, you can also rent tandem bikes for couples, scooters, motorcycles, ATVs, as well as childrens bikes.

I had spoken to one place across from the bus terminal who said I could have a day rental for 7000w ($6). My planned route was to go south away from the main historical sites downtown and head along a temple trail that runs along Mt Namsan.

Along the way you pass along many mound shaped Royal burial tombs which are common all over the city. I came to another small local temple before crossing a turtle styled bridge to reach the south end of the city

Here it became more suburban and much quieter. Many homes had traditional architecture, stone walls, and ridged roofs. The whole city and surrounding is very flat and every sidewalk has its own bike trail. Its common to see other tourists or locals passing by on bikes

There was a large tomb complex on my map I wanted to get to. The Oreung (five tombs) complex was walled on the outside so I had to bike around to find an entrance. I actually came thru a side door and later saw the main entrance on the south charged 1000w ($1) admission.

There is a collection of buildings in one side while the rest of the gardens house the large tombs.

At the next intersection I'd left the city proper and was now in the countryside. There were vast rice fields stretching into the horizon. There was some interesting architecture with the local gas stations which have traditional roofs or stone cutters yards with large sculptures

Biking down further I came first to Pokseojeong which was 500w admission (.45 cents). At first I wasnt sure where to go and a trail was leading further in to a mountain hike which I didnt want to do.

The entire mountain range of Mt Namsan is criss crossed with many hiking trails and there are many maps and hikers to the various destinations

Back at the entrance the main site is actually to the side of the parking lot so I didnt need to goto the trail. I'm not sure what the original site was. I think the description said it was a palace but that all that remains now are the gardens.

The main feature was a tree which had a carved water path like a maple syrup trail.

There was also a historical city map of Gyeongju which suddenly made everything make more sense. It had a square formation with a main road leading north connecting the sites. Its unfortunate the modern day layout does not follow this and that this layout is not more widely known

There was a path that led to another Royal Tomb but led further to an elevated path along a lilly pond. There are actually inroads hiking trails connecting all the temples away from the main road but not clearly marked so I didnt want to get lost in the interior and decided to stay on the main road.

Another interesting temple next was Sambulsa Temple which had three standing female buddhas. It is said their expressions change throughout the day depending on the sunlight.

The complex had several other scenic buildings in the gardens.

Next door was Mangwolsa Temple, a more traditional styled temple but with large painted doors. This cluster of temples was all one after another so easy to reach

Next down was a mountain hiking path where I wasnt able to take my bike. This had some stone carved buddha's along the mountain trail (see next entry).

Back on the bike path heading north again back into town I passed by along the same rice fields, traditional homes, and Royal Tombs

It was a nice afternoon and quite serene once you get out of the city which only takes a few minutes to do. I'll probably try to go again on another quiet weekend biking in a different direction.

Gyeongju is the most bike friendly city in Korea that I've seen and had a very European feel to it with bike trails on every road and locals making this part of their daily life

Here is another blog with more cycling routes
http://www.sherwinvjones.com/gyeongjubl og/2012/06/gyeongju-cycling-courses-and -maps/

See also Gyeongju Biking Part II
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1373834663/tpod.html