March 28, 2019. We arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 11:00 PM. We needed to wait at the airport for our pick up which will take us to the our hotel. The travel time from Incheon to Seoul took about 45mins. We settled after check-in at the hotel at around 2:00 am. We had less than 4 hours to sleep before our travel to Petite France and Naminara Republic (Nami Island) began.
Time Check. 6:00 AM. After a quick wash up and preparations - we were out on the road again trying to find the drop off point of our tour to Nami Island. Good thing, the tour company who consistently communicated with us through messaging app directed us to where the drop off point was. We arrived at the area 5 minutes before the scheduled departure at 8:00 AM. At 10 mins passed the hour of scheduled departure, the bus came and took everyone scheduled for the tour.
Our first stop -- Petite France.
This is a French styled attraction erected on top of a hill. Although I don't have much to say about this attraction, anyone can easily find a good spot for photo ops worthy of FB and IG posts.
The complex has numerous restaurants, gifts and souvenir shops, mini museums and a small amphitheater. Inside the complex, you can somehow feel that you are not in Korea but somewhere in Europe.
My wife took this map as a souvenir. That's pretty much its worth - souvenir, because my wife doesn't know how to use a map. Ooops!
Below are some of the other photos we've taken during our short stop at Petite France:
My wife and son beside a red post box. It looks like my boy got bored
and wanted to move on to another spot.
The brick stone steps going up to some more museums, gift shops
and restaurants.
A mini Eiffel Tower will greet visitors at Petite France for a good
photo opportunity.
My son will probably not admit this but he really likes pothole covers.
Ask him why!
Now let's talk about Nami Island this time. To give you a brief history of Nami Island, Wikipedia - on it's website wrote:
"Namiseom or Nami Island (Korean: 남이섬) is a half-moon shaped island located in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea, formed as the land around it was inundated by the rising water of the North Han River as the result of the construction of Cheongpyeong Dam in 1944. Its name originates from General Nami, who died at the age of 28 after being falsely accused of treason during the reign of King Sejo, the seventh king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Although his grave was not discovered, there were a pile of stones where his body was supposed to be buried. It was believed that if someone took even one stone from there, it would bring misfortune to their house. A tour company arranged the grave with soil and then developed Namiseom into an amusement park."
From Seoul to the port to Nami Island, the bus travelled for about 2 hours but the actual ferry to Nami Island travelled only for about 5 minutes. The tour company provided us with map of the Nami Island as well as the visa (technically a ticket to the ferry) as our entry pass.
Another map souvenir for Naminara Republic. 🤣🤣🤣
Nice BBQ lunch. Did you know that in most if not ALL Korean restaurants, you will
automatically be given side dishes when you order a main dish? It's part of the deal man!
So never mind ordering Kimchi or that pickled radish separately!
I never thought of going to Nami Island to be honest even if I have been to Korea multiple times in the past. I thought that it was just a glorified "micro nation" in the middle of a river and only got it's popularity because of Winter Sonata (KDrama). Setting foot on the island gave a different feeling though. I felt a sense of peace and tranquility. Okay, enough of my 'emo' vibe - let's move on.
The whole island is surrounded by trees. Although for the sake of tourism, the government of the island already installed numerous establishments. There are souvenir and gift shops, food stalls, restaurants, bike rental shops, numerous vending machines and tourist information centers.
Below are two of my first photos at Nami Island.
There's pretty much a lot of things that you can see at Nami Island. The area although small is beaming with life as tourists come in and out of its area to explore is beauty and hidden wonders. During your stay at Nami Island, don't forget to rent a bike or Segway if you want to move around it fairly quickly. Although it looks small, the area has a diameter of about 4 kms and roaming around it on foot may not be a good idea for those without practice. Good luck on getting some muscle cramps after.
Definitely, we had fun at Nami Island and will probably go back there during the winter to see its different beauty under the snow.
Meet me and my wife enjoying a cool dry weather under the trees
at Nami Island.
On our next blog post, let's explore (n)Everland! Stay tuned!
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