Busan is always at work on itself, more so than any other place we've lived, erecting new buildings, improving on its image and expanding its cultural offerings. We visited one of the city's latest achievements just days after it opened: the National Maritime Museum.
Opened in 1978 at the western end of the U.N. Park in Daeyeon, the Busan Museum takes visitors on a journey through the history of the city and its region, from paleolithic times to the modern day. We visited recently and found it to be the perfect rainy-day activity.
We'd spent the first of our two day trip to Gyeongju within the city confines, and dedicated the second day to sights further afield. After a breakfast of questionable nutritious value at Dunkin' Donuts, we hopped on the bus that would take us to the sea.
The only thing which Koreans love more than taking pictures is having their picture taken. So I shouldn't have been surprised to find in Busan an entire museum dedicated to the art of posing for funny photos. But still... I was surprised. The Trick Eye Museum, underneath the Heosimcheong Spa, is one of the most bizarre places we've been in a long time.
We visited the Busan Museum of Art the day after our bizarre excursion to the Snow Castle indoor ski hall. And here, again, was a cavernous building of steel, completely devoid of people. But whereas the Snow Castle has shuttered its doors forever, the art museum was open for business. Just... there was no business.
On the northern side of Yongdusan Park is the Busan Modern History Museum, which takes visitors on a stroll through the recent past of the city. It might as well call itself the Busan Museum of Japanese Aggression, because that's basically the focus of every exhibit.
