AMAZING SEOUL: Seoul (/soʊl/, like soul; Korean: 서울 [sʌ.ul] (About this soundlisten); lit. "Capital"), officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. With surrounding Incheon metropolis and Gyeonggi province, Seoul forms the heart of the Seoul Capital Area.

Strategically situated along the Han River, Seoul's history stretches back over two thousand years, when it was founded in 18 BCE by the people of Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. The city was later designated the capital of Korea under the Joseon dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by a mountainous and hilly landscape, with Bukhan Mountain located on the northern edge of the city. As with its long history, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. More recently, Seoul has been a major site of modern architectural construction – major modern landmarks include the N Seoul Tower, the 63 Building, the Lotte World Tower, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Lotte World, Trade Tower, COEX, and the IFC Seoul. Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. As the birthplace of K-pop and the Korean Wave, Seoul received over 10 million international visitors in 2014, making it the world's 9th most visited city and 4th largest earner in tourism.

Today, Seoul is considered a leading and rising global city, resulting from the South Korean economic boom – commonly referred to as the Miracle on the Han River – which transformed it into the world's 4th largest metropolitan economy with a GDP of US$635.4 billion in 2014 after Tokyo, New York City and Los Angeles. International visitors generally reach Seoul via AREX from the Incheon International Airport, notable for having been rated the best airport for nine consecutive years (2005–2013) by the Airports Council International. In 2015, it was rated Asia's most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis, with the GDP per capita (PPP) in Seoul being $39,786. Inhabitants of Seoul are faced with a high cost of living, for which the city was ranked 6th globally in 2017. Seoul is also an extremely expensive real estate market, ranked 5th in the world for the price of apartments in the downtown center. With major technology hubs centered in Gangnam and Digital Media City, the Seoul Capital Area is home to the headquarters of 15 Fortune Global 500 companies, including Samsung, LG, and Hyundai. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, the metropolis exerts a major influence in global affairs as one of the five leading hosts of global conferences. Seoul has hosted the 1986 Asian Games, 1988 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIFA World Cup, and more recently the 2010 G-20 Seoul summit.


SEOUL: MISCELLANEOUS FACT FILE
Seoul is the world's 9th most visited city and the world's 4th largest earner from tourism.
Seoul was rated Asia's most livable city in 2015 and with the second-highest quality of life globally by Arcadis in 2015, but is the world's 6th most expensive city to live in.
Seoul has a high population density: almost twice that of New York and eight times greater than Rome
The life expectancy of South Koreans is 82 years.
Incheon Intl Airport was rated the world's best airport for 9 consecutive years (2005-2013).
Seoul Special City's population was 10,197,604 people in 2017; that is HALF the population of the entire country.
Seoul comprises 605 square km (234 square miles), with a radius of approximately 15 km (9 miles), roughly bisected into northern and southern halves by the Han River.
Its sprawling metropolitan area is much larger at 25.6 million people  – the 5th most populous in the world.
Seoul is bordered by eight mountains, as well as the more level lands of the Han River plain and western areas.
The average elevation in Seoul is 38 meters (125 feet) above sea level.
The two major religions in Seoul are Christianity and Buddhism.
Seoul is home to the world’s largest Buddhist university. Founded in 1906, Dongguk University is attended by thousands of students every year.
Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul is ranked as the largest Christian congregation in the world, with over one million members.
Seoul contains 5 UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Seoul is often described as the world’s “most wired city”, ranked first in technology readiness by PwC’s Cities of Opportunity report.
It is among the world leaders in Internet connectivity, being the capital of South Korea, which has the world’s highest fibre-optic broadband penetration and highest global average internet speeds of 26.1 Mbit/s.
Seoul is home to Starfield COEX Mall, Asia’s largest underground mall.
Banpo Bridge is listed in "The Guinness Book of Records" as the world’s largest fountain bridge.
Lotte World is a major recreation complex in Seoul and the world’s largest indoor theme park comprising: an outdoor amusement park called “Magic Island”, an artificial island inside a lake linked by monorail, shopping malls, a luxury hotel, a Korean folk museum, sports facilities, and movie theaters. Opened on July 12, 1989, Lotte World receives 7.3 million visitors each year.
Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, began around 4000 BC.
In 18 BC , the kingdom of Baekje founded its capital city, Wiryeseong, which is believed to be inside modern-day Seoul.
With the advent of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), the capital was renamed once more to “Hanyang” and later “Hanseong.”
Jongmyo, a Confucian shrine dedicated to the deceased kings and queens of the Korean Joseon Dynasty (1392–1897), is considered the oldest royal Confucian shrine preserved in the world.

Personal (and thus subjective) Impressions:

  • Seoul is dynamic, vibrant, noisy, efficient, colourful, artistic and full of history.
  • There are LOTS of people on the streets, including LOTS of foreigners, mostly tourists.
  • There is a LOT of life on the streets, including many areas full of stands selling all kinds of products but a lot with hot or cold food, much as in China but unlike Japan, where food outlets are almost always inside some kind of building or kiosque.
  • Koreans are like the Japanese: incredibly polite and helpful to foreigners.
  • More Koreans speak better English than the Japanese.
  • The subway is really efficient: easy to use, fast and cheap.
  • There is free wi-fi almost everywhere, including in the streets and on the subway.
  • 10,000 WON sounds a lot, but is only about €7.5.
  • There seems to be a huge number of art galleries, culture centres and so on, and quite a lot of art on walls and sculptures here and there.
  • The streets are incredibly clean. As in Japan, there are few rubbish bins, but people simply do not chuck rubbish on the ground.


SSome idea of modern architecture in Seoul










Street life on a smaller scale ....








Lots of buses, but the subway is easier to use ......