Andong: a stopover in the spiritual capital of South Korea

Andong is a city in South Korea bordering the Nakdong River, located 3 hours southeast of Seoul. It was a stopping point for us to then go to the folk village of Hahoe, located 25 km west of Andong. While we could have left Seoul very early, taken a bus from Andong to Hahoe and returned to the city before continuing our journey further south, we wanted to take our time a little and not be in a rush.

So, we decided to spend an afternoon there and sleep there, before being able to visit Hahoe more peacefully the next day and return to take the bus to Andong to go to our next stop, namely Gyeongju.

Brief History of Andong

Obviously, an article on my blog would not be complete without a little background, just to understand where we are going. And so to be more precise about my introductory sentence, this large city, with 185 inhabitants, is located in the province of North Gyeongsang, which largely forms what was once the kingdom of Silla, one of the three forming the period aptly called, "the Three Kingdoms", which lasted from 000 BC to 57 AD, a distinction is made for the following period, from 668 to 668, when we then speak of unified Silla.

Indeed, at its beginnings, the three kingdoms in question only covered a small southern part of what is now South Korea, with Baekje in the West, Gaya in the South and Silla in the East, whose capital was none other than Gyeongju, our next stop. During this period, the rest of the country was essentially composed of the powerful kingdom of Goguryeo (also spelled Koguryo). Things would evolve in favor of Silla, which, at its peak, would encompass the equivalent of all of South Korea in 935.

Map of the “Three Kingdoms”. By Myself — Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Returning to Andong, the city was founded in 1 BC by the Jinhan people, formed by a confederation of 12 communities living along the Nakdong River. Until the 10th century, the small city was known as Gochang. A name it lost following a battle between the Baekje Kingdom, under the leadership of its new sovereign, Gyeon Won. The latter bears the dynastic name of Hu-Baekje, or Later Baekje.

He was supported by a wealthy merchant from the Silla Kingdom, Wang Geon, who proclaimed himself king of a new kingdom, Goryeo, thus breaking up the unified Silla Kingdom. Thus, Hu-Baekje's forces and the Goryeo army took control of the city in 930 and Wang Geon renamed Gochang to Andong, which has kept its name for over a thousand years. Incidentally, as early as 935, Wang Geon succeeded for the first time in unifying the entire Korean peninsula.

Portrait of the ruler of Goryeo, Wang Geon.

Until the end of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910), Andong was the local administrative capital and an important center of Confucian learning, producing a number of scholars and political leaders. The Andong region is known today for its preservation of traditional cultural practices such as the Hahoe mask dance, and its historic villages of Hahoe and Yangdong, both designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2010.

Andong's international fame comes in part from the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1999. The British sovereign reportedly asked to be taken to the most "Korean" place in Korea, and it was naturally to Andong that she was directed, celebrating her 73rd birthday there.

Andong Covered Market

The afternoon was already well underway when we arrived in Andong from our train taken in Seoul. We had a good 1 minutes to walk from the station to reach our hotel. The opportunity to have a glimpse of the city, which seems quite peaceful. On the way, we cut through a covered gallery, a market which turned out to be the only point of interest we had time to visit afterwards.

Here we are at Andong station.

First steps in the city.

Because once we found our hotel and checked in (and after a short break), we came back to this covered alley, indicated as the Andong Old Market. After that I don't know if it's really old because I didn't really find any information on this market, its history etc.

Concretely, it is an area that covers a street of about 200 m, even if around, there are quite a few shops and we can largely assimilate this place as being the city center. If we came across a few shops selling clothes, the majority of the sellers were grocers, fishmongers and other stalls related to food.

In the middle of all this, there were also a few small restaurants. After going to the end of the covered part, where other merchants lined up, we were just turning around to go back to one of the restaurants we came across, because after all, we were starting to get hungry even though it wasn't quite 17pm.

Let's go for a short walk.

At the entrance to the market.

We quickly come across the symbol of the city, the folk masks.

And there, it was the opportunity to test the local drink, soju, a spirit made from rice alcohol, often flavored. Our version, according to the drawing on the label, is flavored with sweet potato… As such, it is a stronger alcohol than wine since our small bottle was at 16,7%, so to be consumed in moderation. After that it goes down the bottle quite easily, but I can't say that I'm a fan. At least, I would have tasted a local specialty.

As for the meal itself, we had a communal dish, which came in the form of a large bowl, a picture of which speaks louder than words.

While I was picking at all the pieces of chicken, my wife was enjoying the kimchis galore. The sauce, Korean oblige, was spicy but for us, regulars, it was just a formality. A small, simple meal, which was our only culinary experience in Andong since we were leaving the next day to see the village of Hahoe. We only went back to Andong to take the bus at the station on the edge of town.

Leaving the restaurant, it was only 18pm but it was already dark, we quickly strolled around the covered galleries, the time to find a place to enjoy a little dessert. We hadn't particularly planned to have something sweet that day, but passing in front of the shop, the Mammoth Bakery, it made us want to. After that, we quietly went back to our room and thus ended our very brief visit to Andong.

Where to sleep in Andong

So yes, usually, it's more of a chapter that I add at the end of the article, but since this one is shorter than usual, I want to present things in the order we discovered them. And so it was to our hotel that we headed straight out of the small Andong station. The advantage of a small town is that we did everything on foot, since it was only 1 m to travel between the station and our hotel, the Gwang Seok Dong Guest House & Hostel. From the latter, it was only 200 m to get to our only visit in the city, the old market.

Gwang Seok Dong Guest House & Hostel

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