Everland Rose Festival
The nation’s largest outdoor amusement park, Everland, is hosting its annual Rose Festival until June 12. The theme park, located in Yongin just outside of Seoul, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and is currently flooded with roughly 1 million roses scattered throughout the park’s luscious garden areas.
This year’s Rose Festival is highlighted by the newly established, “Shakespeare Garden,” which features specialized storyboards of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Sonnets” on select days, honoring the 400th anniversary of the literary icon’s death.
Every weekend during the festival will include various live performances including a show by a Beatles tribute band as well as a performance of “Hamlet” the opera. For more information, visit www.everland.com.
Suwon International Handicrafts Fair
Suwon holds a handicrafts fair that gathers craft artisans from its sister cities around the world to present a variety of craftworks from May 14-15 at Hwaseong Haengung Square, next to the historic Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.
The fair, which celebrates the Visit Suwon Year campaign this year, will display a variety of craftworks that range from pottery, embroidered items, handmade dolls, silk products to paintings. Participating cities include Freiburg of Germany, Nizhny-Novgorod of Russia, Cluj-Napoca of Romania and Townsville of Australia.
More than 10 crafts organization and artists based in Suwon will also participate in the fair, presenting craftworks that highlight Korean beauty. The fair also invites citizens to enjoy craft making and Korean traditional folk games.
For more information, visit www.swcic.or.kr, or call (031) 248-9396.
2016 Changdeokgung Moonlight Tour
One of the city of Seoul’s most popular palace tours, this year’s 2016 Changdeokgung Moonlight Tour will allow guests the special opportunity to wander around the place grounds under the moonlight.
Typically closed off to the public at night, the annual event allows a limited amount of visitors to explore the gorgeously lit-up Changdeokgung grounds in a specialized guided tour. Allowing only 100 guests per tour, the palace will host its annual nighttime palace festivities on selected days until June 22. It should be noticed that there are separate dates and tours for Korean and Non-Koreans. Non-Koreans are not permitted to join a Korean tour and visa versa. Tickets to the event cost 30,000 won and must be purchased in advance at interpark.com.
Moonlight Tour at Suwon Hwaseong
Similar to that of the Seoul palaces’ nighttime tour openings, the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress will soon be available to visitors wanting to take a nighttime stroll around the historic structure.
From May 21 to July 17, the Suwon Cultural Foundation will open the gates to the UNESCO World Heritage Suwon Hwaseong and Hwaseong Haenggung Palace to the public for a special nighttime program known as “Moonlight Tour at Suwon Hwaseong.” Participants can enjoy various programs such as exploring the palace, attending poetry readings and watching various traditional performances.
Tickets are listed at 20,000 won and must be purchased in advance at interpark.com.
Springtime eateries on Jejudo Island
The following are two eateries on Jejudo Island featuring natural, seasonal dishes that travelers may want to visit during their spring outings.
Temple Stay Food in the southwestern district of Jejudo Island is a restaurant that specializes in temple food. The eatery serves healthy, fresh vegetable-based dishes that the Buddhist monks eat in their mountainside Buddhist temples. Key dishes include lotus leaf-wrapped rice and seaweed flower rice set. The restaurant is located at 843-10, Changcheon-ri, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jejudo, Korea
Another often-recommended restaurant is Daegijeong. The government-approved eatery highlights traditional local Jejudo cuisine made with fresh seafood, including dishes like sea squirt bibimbap, sea mustard soup with sea urchin egg and braised cutlass fish. Daegijeong is located at 41, Ieodo-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jejudo, Korea.
