We were so dog-gone tired from Day 01 yesterday – what with the red-eye flight, then a full day of sight-seeing covering 8 different places that our guide and driver, Mr. Lee, suggested we have a slightly later start time of 10AM for Day 02. That was very welcome, though a small part of me continued to worry if we’d be able to cover all the places I’d listed for the second day.
Our first stop today was Saeseom Island Saeyeongyo Bridge – not on our itinerary, but as it was a short 5 minute drive from our first place of stay these first five dates, why not. This is an iconic and hard to miss bridge that’s almost directly opposite the entrance to Cheongjiyeon Waterfall that we visited yesterday. The bridge connects the mainland/Seogwipo to the small and uninhabited Saesom Island, and does not require admission fees. It seems to be a pretty popular spot too, as there were a few buses of tourists getting offloaded to walk over the bridge and take a look at the island too. It was a nice way to start the morning, and very easy to get to.
The quick visit over, we continued onto our the places we’d planned out for the day. We’d initially planned to visit island trail 7, but since we’d already covered a section of it yesterday at Namwon Keuneong, we gave the trail a miss and proceeded towards Jusangjeolli Cliffs. These cliffs are among the most distinctive geological formations on Jeju Island. Here, ancient lava flows cooled into tall hexagonal basalt columns. Over time the sea has eroded the cliffs, leaving these columns exposed along the shoreline. We visited this spot 20 years ago, but the area has seen a fair bit of development since, with new observation and viewing platforms to host the throngs of crowds – and there were quite a lot of people for this weekend morning.
We didn’t stay long as crowds in small areas really aren’t our thing, so we continued on after spending just half an hour in the area. Continued in the next post!