A second time in Seoul doesn’t mean a trip full of surprises, but it does mean a rediscovery of all the favourite activities and attractions we encountered on our last visit here. A huge part of our trip revolves around walking and food. Food I’ve noticed anywhere around the world costs the same as clothes now. There is big money to be made from selling cuisine as a big part of the cultural experience of the country you’re visiting. I’ve also become frightfully aware that I take more photographs of my food and drinks than I do of myself in my surroundings. My Gen-Z teen daughter points out that I’m more millennial than Gen-X. I simply shrug. Food and drink is presented so beautifully that you want to share with the world this discovery, since the world knows what your face looks like already.
Namsan
Our visit last weekend to Gyengju, which is a very green and historic area, revealed a wonderful cafe called Cafe Eyst. It was an extremely modern place in the seat of history playing house music and serving artisan teas and coffees and the local ice cream known as Bingsu in a very tasteful way. My daughter had a green tangerine and chamomile tea and I had a ginseng and honey tea which was decorated with chopped chestnuts. They were absolutely amazing. Mine had real honeycomb in it. Her tea had real squeezed green tangerine juice at the bottom and the pulp was still in it. Mixed with the mild sweetness of chamomile, it was just so refreshing and relaxing at the same time. Then the view of the historic bridge and river coupled with these amazing teas made a perfectly relaxing experience.
Café Eyst
Overall in South Korea, the local food is healthy. It’s rice and seaweed rich, and the choice of protein is tofu, egg, and of course animal meat and fish and seafood. Wheat or bread is more expensive and is seen as a dessert. Café culture is big here, full of variations of matcha and coffees and teas. Yogurt frozen smoothies are popular mixed with fruit which is exceptionally cooling on a hot humid day. (Think instant brain-freeze.) Walking is preferred as well as weekend hikes and climbs. Most people use the excellent network of public transport. Metro stations are full of stairs. Seoul is surrounded by hills, making some areas an uphill walk. It’s also easy to go for a hike at any time in Seoul, as Namsan is in the center of the city. At the top, you can see the whole of the city. If you’re fit, it will take you about 35 mins to get to the top. Lots of stairs but extremely doable. Seoul is generally safe with no threat of pick-pocketing or harassment of women so it makes for a great stress-free holiday.
“Good health practices are contagious.”
“I am a Nutrition and Being-Well Coach. My training is from IIN in NYC in Holisitc Health Counselling. I started my private practice in 2017 and as I gained clientele, I wanted to delve deeper in to the root causes of bad health whilst helping women reach their weight loss goals.
I earned 3 more certifications from IIN in Gut Health, Hormone Health and then later one in The Psychology of Food.
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