#4k #walkingtour #korea
If you ever find yourself walking through downtown Seoul on a day when it's too hot, or too cold, or too wet, there's a way to stay cool, or warm, or dry, and still cover a lot of ground on foot.
Eulji Star Mall, aka Eulji-ro Underground Shopping Center, runs the entire length of Eulji-ro between Dongdaemun Market on the east end and City Hall on the west. From there, Citistar Mall bends southwest beneath Seoul Plaza to City Hall Station. City Hall Station connects to the west side of the Seoul Plaza Hotel's basement, and the east side of the basement opens into Sogong Underground Shopping Center, which turns south from Seoul Plaza and then east to Namdaemun-ro, with exits for Lotte Department Store and the Myeongdong shopping district.
For this walk, we start at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Seoul Subway Lines 2, 4, and 5). We pass by Gate 1 (00:12), outside of which we see Dongdaemn Design Plaza (DDP). Then at 00:24, we see a passage that leads south to the line 4 and 5 platforms and five of the station's exits. We head west.
At 01:35, we leave the subway station behind and enter Eulji Star Mall Section 4. That's the name you get if you look at Naver Map. However, the sign above us at 01:35 proclaims we're entering Dongdaemun Sports Underground Shopping Center. I'm not sure when the "Eulji Star Mall" brand came into being, but Dongdaemun Underground Shopping Center, Euljiro Underground Shopping Center, and Euljiro 1-ga Underground Shopping Center are all names that have long been applied to different sections of what is now officially known as "Eulji Star Mall".
Dongdaemun Stadium used to stand where DDP is today. The area became a nexus of sporting goods shops. There aren't so many around today, but this part of the underground mall is a remnant of that era. There aren't any kinds of sports equipment for sale here, but lots of sports-themed clothing.
By 04:06, the sporting stuff becomes more sparse, and we start to see more items other than clothing. We're still in Section 4 of the mall, but it's clear we've left the Dongdaemun portion of it behind.
Some stretches of the mall are decorated with a specific theme, or to exhibit some sort of art or messaging. We see an example of that at 09:29. These are periodically modified or replaced entirely with another, different such display.
We can hear a subway train beneath us just before we cross into the territory of Euljiro 4-ga Station (Subway Lines 2 and 5) at 11:32. We pass through the station and into Eulji Star Mall Section 3 on the other side (14:10). Here, we find more consumer-facing shops, many, but not all, of them selling clothing items.
At 18:32 we enter Euljiro 3-ga Station (Subway Lines 2 and 3). It covers a significant stretch of the pasage and houses a number of shops and a few small exhibits. Then at 22:57, we cross into Eulji Star Mall Section 2, where we find more of the same kinds of shops we've been seeing.
At 28:24, we're still in Section 2, but this part of it has long been known as Euljiro 1-ga Underground Shopping Center. This is a bit of a landmark, indicating that we're on the north side of the Myeongdong shopping district, which the exits on our left lead to, and not far from Euljiro 1-ga Station, which we enter at 30:11.
At 33:48, we climb the "piano steps" into Citistar Mall. This leads us through another series of shops. At 38:05, we're right next to City Hall Station (Subway Lines 1 and 2). The Line 1 section of the station is on the other side of the wall to our right. A passage to our right at 38:34 leads to it, but we continue straight to the end of our passage.
Were we to keep going, we'd pass into the Line 2 part of City Hall Station, but we turn left. This takes us throught the basement of the Plaza Hotel (40:27) and into Sogong Underground Shopping Center (41:22). Though we can still find more of the same kinds of shops here, we also see a number that are aimed at the tourists who pass through on their way to/from Lotte Department Store and the Myeongdong Shopping District.
Finally, at 47:07, we head back above ground outside Myeongdong and end our walk.
ROUTE MAP:
[ Ссылка ]
META:
I filmed this in the mid-afternoon of May 16 2023, with an iPhone 11 on a DJI OM 5 in 4K @ 60 fps. I edited and rendered with DaVinci Resolve Studio 18.
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station.
01:35 Eulji Star Mall Section 4 (Dongdaemun Sports Underground Shopping Center)
04:06 Eulji Star Mall Section 4
11:32 Euljiro 4-ga Station
14:10 Eulji Star Mall Section 3
18:32 Euljiro 3-ga Station
22:57 Eulji Star Mall Section 2
30:11 Euljiro 1-ga Station
33:48 Citistar Mall
38:05 City Hall Station
40:27 Plaza Hotel Basement
41:22 Sogong Underground Shopping Center
47:07 Myeongdong Shopping District Entrance
