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Start
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Hotel
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Convention Center
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5.18 Liberty Park
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5.18 Memorial Culture Center
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Gwangju National Museum
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Jungoe Park
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Gwangju Museum of Art
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Finish
Dasarop, Fusion Healing Cafe
We stopped by a cafe 「Dasarop」 located in Sangmu district which is the main street of Gwangju to comfort our tired body.
As a city of art, this cafe in Gwangju is not just a coffee shop. It sells traditional teas and desserts. It seems the name 'Dasarop' creates the beauty of sophistication and tradition.
Menus are hung above the counter. Names of the menus ends with '~da.'. 'Dasaropda' means 'It has little warm feelings' in pure Korean.
There are new beverage menus. We pondered for awhile and ordered some beverages. Then we seated at a table inside the cafe.
As it was little late at night, there were a few people in the cafe but an interior of the cafe made with yellow woods seems to produce warm atmosphere.
The reason why this cafe becomes famous is it offers not only traditional teas, but also foot bath rooms. You can enjoy foot bath while drinking tea. Imagine you read a book with some tea while sitting on a fluffy soft cushion and bathing your feet in the hot water. The time must fly like a flash.
We walked so long today and were afraid that bad smell of our feet would fill the cafe. We were waiting for our beverages leaning on the soft chair and just watching people doing a foot bath.
Tada~ Our snacks are served after a while. 'Cherry Raspberry Smoothie', 'Chapssal Pie', and cool 'Ice Americano'.
As its name, Cherry raspberry smoothie includes some cherries and raspberries. We love it because its pretty colors and sour taste seems to make us comforted.
Even though it's a tea specialty cafe, it has good flavor of Americano. It's just ashamed that I gulped it down as if a servant does after chopping firewood.
There are only 4 pieces of Chapssal pie but their savory taste is excellent. Pies are filled with healthy ingredients but our tastes are not sensitive enough to appreciate each flavor. The first impression of Gwangju is hopeful due to the cafe Dasarop. At Dasarop, you can comfort your fatigue with some beverages and foot bath after a trip. I would like to recommend this cafe particularly to women.
Map : click
Address : 1254, Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju-si
Telephone : 062-373-4550
Open Hour : Weekday 8 am ~ 11 pm / Weekend 9 am ~ 11 pm
Price : Americano 3,800 / Chapssal Pie 4,000 / Cherry raspberry smoothie 5,700
Beer Mart
We recovered our appetite at the cafe, and needed to eat stronger food before going into the accommodation.
If we must have something, we wanted to have some drink to forget our fatigue. Then we found Beer Mart that was once popular as one of specialty beer stores.
Interior of the Beer Mart located on the second floor is quite big. There are places where you can talk to bartenders having some drink, tables at hall, and rooms with mysterious light.
There was a terrace with fresh cool breeze, but we went into the small room judging that it would be better to drink under the artificial wind from the air-conditional.
Wow~~ There are so many cheap snacks and drinks… We have a plan for tomorrow so we can not have strong liquors or drink too much. We ordered snacks that served with drinks and went out to the hall to get beers.
Several refrigerators standing in a row has icy cold beers from all over the world. They were waiting for our hands.
Each one of us ordered beers and found a dart board beside the refrigerators. It will be interesting to play together when you come in groups.
On the other side, there is a smoking area, so non-smokers can avoid smelling cigarettes.
After for a while, Filipino beer 'San Miguel' was served. White bubbles and beads of water make beer look cool and stimulate my appetite.
We ordered a strange-shaped 'Mini M Rita' for Chodingi. You can drink it by putting sliced ice and beer bottle into a big glass. Women prefer this beer that tastes a little bit sour.
The moment that we looked at the unusual beer was short. Our attention focused on the snack, 'Curry Pong Dak'. It's made by putting french fries and fried chicken on curry sauce and sprinkling some cheese powder over them.
This menu must have great amount of calories. We spent lots of energy today so it must be acceptable, right?
Our body absorbed beer more than the snacks. It might be because we lacked of water. Our faces already started to be turned red.
Let's have a high-calorie party today. Right after eating some Curry Pong Dak, we ordered 'Ogyeop(5-layered) pork cutlet salad' that much dressing is scattered.
Is it called a Millefeuil pork cutlet? Looking at one side of it, the pork cutlet with multi-layered pork was fried. It's very crunch and has good taste with salad. I don't feel greasy due to the salad.
Snacks served with alcoholic beverages of the Beer Mart are inexpensive. A piece of snacks and a sip of beer… We emptied out 2 dishes of snacks and 2 glasses of beer and headed to our accommodation with red face shaking from side to side in the downtown of Gwangju where we had been for the first time.
Map : click
Address : 1237-3(2nd floor), Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju-si
Telephone : 062-381-5092
Open Hour : Weekday/Weekend 5 pm ~ 5 am
Price : Ogyeop Pork Cutlet Salad 8,000 won / Curry Pong Dak 13,000 won / Beer 2,500 won~
Address: 광주 서구 치평동 1237-3 / 대한민국 광주광역시 서구 치평동 1237-3
Benikea Art Hall Hotel
In Gwangju, there are many accommodations around Mudeung Mountrain and Sangmu district. There are so many hotels and motels around Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu that this district is called as hotel and motel village.
The very place where we chose to stay over night this time is 「Benikea Hotel Art Hall」 located on one side of the Sangmu district.
Entering the hotel that is also used for wedding conventions, the lobby was bright with lighting. We felt safe that we arrived at our accommodation.
There is an Internet space for the guest. You can search for tourist information on the Internet. It's hard to use it for a long time because there are no chairs. Instead, WIFI and LAN lines are installed in each room.
We checked in so late due to tight schedules. We finished checking in quickly at the front desk and went up to the third floor.
Beside elevators, there are many pictures of celebrities who have stayed at this hotel. Among them, 'Paul Potts' who became a big star through British audition program is very impressive.
In a hallway of the third floor, there are many doorways of room. Various typed rooms fill the hallway in four directions.
Doorways look so thick and strong. It must have at least 10cm thickness. Extinguishers and descending life lines are well equipped beside these strong doorways.
I liked this room because it seemed wider than what the room really looks like due to high ceiling.
Interior of the room looks bit classical. Above all things, air conditioner works very well. Very cool wind from it cooled down the heat after drinking beers.
Clean gowns and hangers are well organized in a fitted wardrobe between bed and bathroom.
In the bathroom, a big bathtub, shower, and bidet are installed. A sink is located outside of the bathroom so it's comfortable to use.
Towels and various disposable commodities are well prepared. Absolutely, a hair dryer is in a dressing table and two bottles of water are put inside a mini fridge.
White Bed sheets looked clean so we didn't have to worry about cleanliness of the accommodation facilities.
These are breakfast meal tickets. You can have a breakfast for free. I sometimes cling to nothing. I put the ticket by my pillow and fell asleep thinking 'Whatever may happen, I will get up early tomorrow morning…'.
The next morning, I opened my eyes wide~!!. On the weekends, breakfast time is until 9 am so I rushed down with uncombed hair to a banquet hall for breakfast on the first floor.
This is a part of the cafe rather than a cafeteria or banquet hall. It's decorated with various small props.
On one side of the wall, there is a menu because it usually offers some beverages during daytime. It's quite cheap to have beverages although it's the cafe in the hotel.
Many guests around us are already at the table. We need to hurry to start breakfast.
Different kinds of bread, vegetables, and cereals are offered for the breakfast. Little bit of rice and Gimchi is also provided.
For breakfast, it's best to have heavy hamburger to make the stomach loaded. Most people have toasts and cereals but I pick up many hamburger buns and patties as I want to be special with no reason.
We rinsed out our mouth with cool watermelons and cherry tomatoes. There were not so many menus but they were enough for the breakfast.
Looking outside from the entrance of banquet hall, we are worried about today's schedule. It's cloudy and seems to be rainy soon.
We finished the breakfast and picked up our bags. When we were about to leave the hotel where we had spend comfortable night, raindrops had just started to fall… We decided to change the schedule and left for the today's first destination. You can stay at this Benikea Hotel Art Hall at a quite low price and you will be offered breakfast as well as bed. It also has easy accessibility because it's located in the center of the downtown. There are many accommodations around here so it would be nice to compare each ones to go.
Map : click
Address : 2, 20 beon-gil, Seogusicheong-ro, Gwangju-si
Telephone : 062-600-9999
Open Hour : Always Open
Price : Double Room 160,000 won / Ondol & Twin room 180,000 won / Sweet room 240,000 won
