We are getting firmly back into the city tourist trail and today was all about the temples and palaces.

Our first stop was a revisit to Jogyesa Temple which Michelle missed seeing a day or so ago because she was unwell. Being Sunday the temple was busy with worshipers and the sound of prayer.

The temple is such an interesting place with the external areas cultivated with greenery and planting in and around the sculptures and temple buildings. There is clearly a love of nature and the colours and forms created really help to beautify what is already a magnificent array of temple buildings.

With the heart shaped colourful entrance it was too good an opportunity to pass up for a photo.

Throughout the 30mins or so we were there, a number of gardeners had planted and redesigned the entrance to the temple from the road.

Leaving the temple, we made a detour to Open Songhyeon-dong Green plaza. This was a large field where natural wild plants have been encouraged to grow and small walkways created to enable people to enter the field and get up close with nature.

It’s such a clever but basic concept, which signifies one of the many ways that the South Koreans have chosen to give back to their fellow citizens and encourage harmony and unity.

The first palace visit was to Changdeokgung, the palace of prospering virtue.

It is one of the Five Grand Palaces built by the kings of the Joaeon dynasty (1392–1897). As it is located east of Gyeongbokgung Palace it’s also referred to as the “East Palace”.

Changdeokgung was the most favored palace of many Joseon kings and retained many elements dating from the Three Kingdoms of Korea period that were not incorporated in the more contemporary Gyeongbokgung. One such element is the fact that the buildings of Changdeokgung blend with the natural topography of the site, instead of imposing themselves upon it.

Next stop was Changgyeonggung Palace, located right next door to Changdeokgung Palace. Like its neighbour it sits in wonderful grounds and has been restored over the last 20yrs to its originally status and splendour.

With the heat of the day getting ever stronger and temperatures exceeding 32c, we were keen to get into shade wherever possible.

Fortunately the lake grounds afforded us this much needed shade and we also came across a wonderful summer garden palace, with a Victorian influenced styling.

We then made our way to Jongmyo Shrine, the oldest royal Confucian shrine in Korea. We had a pleasant walk around the grounds and popped into a couple of the buildings to enjoy the artefacts that remain in the temple buildings.

With the step count for the day already close to 15,000, we walked across the city to Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest of the big 5, and the most revered. This was a return visit for Andy and again we timed it well to see the changing of the guard.

It’s clear to us that Gyeongbokgung Palace is the most beautiful and on scale is the largest of all the five palaces.

Our plan was then to head to Deoksugung Palace, however the queues were proving too long, so we made a detour for a late lunch and a rest. We found a pleasant restaurant and tucked into a tuna salad sandwich with all the trimmings. Not very Korean we admit but hunger pains took over.

Heading down to Myeongdong we then wandered the streets and experienced the sights and sounds of this bustling shopping area.

Myeongdong is Korea’s most famous shopping and fashion district. Shoppers can enjoy ‘total’ shopping in a pedestrian-friendly car free area.

On the way we passed Seoul’s city hall, which was completed redeveloped in 2013 and extended to include a huge glass and steel extension to the rear. It is now a major architectural attraction of the city with a modern reinterpretation of traditional Korean design; the cresting wave provides shade (like the curved eaves found on palaces and temple roofs in Korea) over the handsome old City Hall.

This evening we reverted to the culinary delights of Korea with BBQ chicken at OPPADAK in the centre of Myeongdong restaurant area. The place specialised in chicken in all its various forms and when the food arrived it could have fed a table of six, never mind just the two of us. Fortunately we were both hungry and determined not to leave anything.

We had a selection of starters with our beers, before the chicken and salad arrived and then it was a case of digging in and enjoying the delicious tasting BBQ and fried chicken. After a couple of breaks to make room for more chicken, we managed to finish it off.

It proved a very enjoyable meal and definitely the most filling we have had since arriving in Seoul. We then decided to walk it off with a wander around the shopping area until 10.30pm before returning to the hotel and some much needed rest after another day of walking that took us north of 25,000 steps/20k.

Tomorrow we are taking in a few of the museums and the other night markets as well as a return to Gangnam in the evening to experience the bar and restaurant scene.