Insadong

Insadong is the arts and culture mecca of Seoul.  It is filled with shops selling Korean handicrafts, Hanbok costumes and souvenirs.  There are also a lot of art galleries featuring local and foreign artists.

Insadong can be reached from your hotel by subway exiting at Anguk Station.  It is a 10 minute walk from Changdeokgung Palace.

Checking out the knick-knacks in one of the stores along Insadong.

They sell a lot of K-Pop and Korean TV/Movie Stars products, including socks with their faces on it.  I think the Koreans got this weirdness from their Japanese neighbors.

Like I mentioned earlier, Insadong is the arts and culture mecca of Seoul.  Ssamziegil is on of the place where arts and culture intertwine.

It was designed by Choi Mun-gyu and houses over 70 shops offering paintings, crafts, traditional Korean goods, papers and ceramics.

Here, grafitti is art.

I'm hungry and looking for a place to eat.

I'm tired of walking and resting on one of the plant boxes.

EJ and Annette waiting outside a shop selling traditional Korean handicrafts and souvenirs.

Starbucks changed their usual sign into Korean in keeping with the theme of the area.

If you're visiting Changdeokgung Palace and dig traditional Korean handicrafts, paintings and souvenirs, then a walk-through of Insadong should be in your itinerary.  If conventional retail shopping is what you had in mind, there's COEX Mall, Myeongdong and Itaewon for that.