The (Almost) Four Market Loop

Myeongdong Market

Yesterday we planned to make a subway loop that would include four of the most famous street markets in Seoul. We began our day much later than usual and regretted it when we reached our hotel's restaurant. Before that morning we had not waited a single minute to be seated, but at 9 am on Saturday, this was not the case. After breakfast, we went back to our room to gather our things for the day ahead, then headed to the subway.

Our first stop was a return visit to Namdaemun to take a better look at the children's section of the market. I could have spent days there, pouring through shop after shop of adorable kiddo clothes and shoes. Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for my bank account, my boys were not having it. We did spend a considerable amount of time sorting through the shops looking for some special items.

*I have already let Joe know that when I return for custody, I will be purchasing a great deal more, so he is prepared.

After Namdaemun, we decided to walk to Myeongdong. Namdaemun is a traditional street market, with a lot of street vendors, street food, and transitional/handmade items. Myeongdong is quite the opposite. It is more of a modern, outdoor mall. There are still some street vendors and some street food options, however, most are indoors and the items to buy are mostly clothing and skincare products. We walked through the market for a bit, but many of the shops repeat, so it didn't take us long to decide it was time to move on.

Before leaving, we did find a candy store, which the boys had been searching  and they did find some Kogo (Korean corn dogs). Liam got one filled with cheese and Nolan picked a sausage with a crunchy outer coating. We also had to get Oreo churros to share- obviously not Korean, but delicious just the same. Our next stop, Dongdaemun, which was too far to walk, so we hoped back on the subway.

We noticed that the last two stops before Dongdaemun were pretty close together, so we got off the subway a stop early to get a little extra walking in. We came out of the subway station to find ourselves surrounded by the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park. The architecture was amazing and we found several fun things to stop and look at.

After a bit of exploring in this area, we started walking in the direction of Dongdaemun. We noticed one particular street, where both sides of the street were lined with vendors. We walked up one side, then walked back down the other. This is where I found my second favorite pair of shoes for Maylee. We continued on toward our destination, stopping at a vendor with the most delicious peanut shaped deliciousness.

Toy Alley!

We were now on the hunt for the elusive "Toy Alley". According to others who have been there, Toy Alley is the best place to go to find fun things for your children. The boys have spent the last week begging to find it. It took some time, but we found it. Boy, did it ever live up to it's name! Toys everywhere! The prices were not overly low, but they were at least typical for US prices and the boys had waited so long, that we let them each pick two things. We made it less than halfway down the alley, when they had both decided on their chosen items.

We were still planning to make it back to Insadong, but we were all so hungry and exhausted that we decided to put it off a day. I'm glad that we did, because by the time we ate dinner and got pjs on, we were all out pretty quickly. All that walking wore us out!