Garosugil 가로수길, or Tree-lined Street in english, is a really nice hideout near the Apgujeong area in Seoul, and can be accessed from the Sinsa subway station.
As the name suggests, this entire street is less than 1 kilometre but filled with many interesting cafes and shops within the short buildings. The whole lane is pretty artistic and each individual store is a compilation of everything nice.
-terminology-
1000 won = SGD 1.10
Hangang river - The biggest river that stretches across Seoul
Daekyo 대교 - Bridge
Selca- self camera/self shots
*refer to above for terminology!*
After exiting from subway station, just walk along the street and when there is an obvious bigger street, turn left and you will see the entire lane lined with trees. You are likely to be at the right place.
It was a slightly gloomy day..
I like Garosugil because of its relaxed and artistic atmosphere. The cafes there really tempted me to just stop for coffee but i wanted to explore the entire area before it starts pouring.
Open concept is interesting.
The shop fronts...
One of the cafes i saw..
Cutesy cafes.. Very nice to spend an afternoon with girl friends!
After i reached the end of the street, i took a bus down to a Cafe that was located at one of the bridges across the Hangang river.
I still remember researching a lot before i went to Korea and i saw the actual place on google/naver maps and it wasn't that hard for me to get around because it seemed as though i went there before (on the maps) haha.
I went to Cafe Rainbow, which is located at the start of the Hannam Bridge / Hannam Daekyo 한남대교.
It started to become rainy and just nice, Cafe Rainbow was a good shelter.
The Cafe was rather cool, i had to take a lift from the bridge level.
I freaking love the view from the cafe.. I like how the seats were individualistic. It is so suitable for people travelling around alone.
More photos!
There was a second level of the cafe.
It's a really damn good place to hide. There wasn't any crowd in the afternoon.
The view. Somehow, the camera wasn't able to capture the beauty of the place.
And it started to pour like crazy! :(
After i finished my drink and waited for a long time for the rain to become lighter, I went to the toilet and explored the area under the bridge.
Toilet capsule aha. quite odd.
The sad thing about travelling alone is that there is no one to take photos with you or for you. Haha. selca!
The plan was actually to take a bus back to the Apgujeong area, which is apparently the Korea's orchard road. However the rain was really big and despite holding an umbrella, i was drenched after walking to the bus stop because of the wind and no shelter at the bus stop!
And it was really weird because no buses stopped for me! I guess that bus stop wasn't functional so i started walking to the end of the bridge and it was actually quite awkward there because there wasn't a pedestrian path.. I remember it was quite epic.. Kind of lost, drenched and helpless. hah.
When i reached the normal road, i hailed for a cab and headed to Apgujeong.
Finally it stopped raining for a while and i was actually, rather lost because i didn't know how to get to Rodeo street, which was the haps area and while walking and walking, i realised how big Apgujeong was.. The buildings were big and sparse so it took me quite a while to get from one end to another. It was really a boring area because those weren't shopping malls but company buildings.
Then finally, i reached a place where there seems to be some interesting shops but the rain came down at me again!
So i stopped by a cafe for shelter and bought a cookie because i was on budget. hehe.
Cute serviette!
After 1 hour or more, the rain still have not stopped but it was lighter, so i decided to just walk the area.
It didn't seem very interesting to me because everything looked expensive and there were some branded shops.
Never would i imagine the "haps and rich" shopping area of Apgujeong to look like that, so i really doubt the area i walked to be Rodeo street or the main Apgujeong street...
And i am still very curious whether i followed the map wrongly, but i just checked and i did follow the trail that was supposed to be the Apgujeong street, double checked with the land marks i took on the photos! I think i underestimated the size of the area so the walk took me really really long.
After the cafe, i lost all mood to explore the area because of the stupid rain and the sky was turning dark, so i gave up walking to the Cheongdamdong Street or Rodeo Drive.
It would have been nice viewing the high end malls lining up the roads like how Orchard Road is like, but i guess it wasn't a scenery worth hours walking!
So anyway, i am really not impressed with Apgujeong because all that i saw was boring buildings and expensive stores not worth browsing. But i can't say much because i haven't seen the prime area i was supposed to see. heh.
I am glad i was exploring alone, cus i bet the rest would probably kill me for bringing them in circles!
And anyway, the easy way out would have been taking the taxi and direct the driver to Rodeo Street / drive straight away and i wonder why i didn't. haha.... oh wells.
All in all, Garosugil is definitely worth seeing and Cafe Rainbow is a nice hangout! Apgujeong is only for the atas!
