Name: Melisa Ljusa
Affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Sarajevo
Journal Title: Insadong – a place you must visit
Date: 01 August 2022



Should you look at some of the recommended tourist attractions on the Internet, Insadong is definitely one of them. Some of us decided to visit this tourist location, which only two subway stations away from the hotel.

Upon arrival at the destination, we have immediately learned why Insadong is considered one of the oldest and most culturally important parts of Seoul. A long and wide street runs through Insadong with many small shops and family restaurants on both sides of the street.
Small shops/stores were especially interesting to us. You can find numerous souvenirs and handmade artefacts in them, and there are also art galleries. You can buy pottery, hanbok, hanji and unique artwork in the shops. We have found a wonderful store where we were able to buy literally everything that we were looking for. We were quite impressed with the selection of teas. The saleslady kindly tried to explain their healing properties to us. We have also visited Ssamzigil - a shopping mall specialized in crafts.


Picture 1. Trainees in front of Ssamzigil 


We took a short break during the tour and tried one of the many local specialties - Kkul-tarae (Korean court cake)! We were delighted not only with the dessert, but also with the manner of its preparation, which can be seen on many streets. Seoul is really trying to keep its tradition alive!



Picture 2. Kkul-tarae testing


The tranquillity and peacefulness that prevails not only in Insadong but in the whole of Seoul is incredible although the streets are full of people and tourists. People are smiling, hardworking and everything seems stress-free. This especially amazes me in a city that has three times more inhabitants than my entire country!

We always seem to get to know Seoul anew and every day we are more and more fascinated with what we see. Hence, we have to visit Insadong one more time...




Coordinator's comments:
I also found Insadong very fascinating when I visited there quite a long time ago. One of the most attractive points of that special town is that visitors can buy unique products, especially hand-made ones, which are hardly found in other regions.
I hope you bought some interesting souvenirs at Ssamzigil for your family, friends and beloved ones.
How was Kkul-tarae? It is also a type of sweets which cannot be found anywhere but only at streets or regions where Korean traditional culture is observed.
Seeing you guys surrounding a box of kkul-tarae in the photo, it makes me to grab some sweets now.