Magical Murals - Shinhwa Art Village

In honor of my blog's one year anniversary I am ready to share with you one of my most randomly spectacular adventures. This is what I love about traveling, I love experiencing different cultures with all of my senses and seeing what makes a place unique in person with my own eyes. Stumbling  upon something as fantastic and unknown as Shinwha Art Village and being able to share it with the world in the hopes that more people may be able to enjoy it is priceless. This is why I travel and this is why I blog. The world is such a spectacular place and instead of collecting things I am out to collect memories and experience each and every part of our amazing planet Earth.

Shinwha Art Village

Hidden away in the large industrial city of Ulsan, South Korea, there sits a quaint little local village which has been enveloped by the growing city. More than just a simple village, it is unique to any I have yet seen on my travels. An art village, decorated with stunning murals of everything from pop culture to folk lore it completely took my breath away.

Shinhwa Art Village is comprised of several cobblestone roads and walkways which wind through the various dwellings and shops. Almost every wall is ordained with a mural of a different theme and style. Though most revolve around whales and the sea, due to the villages close proximity to the ocean, there are also murals featuring pop culture icons, cartoons, and politics.

One could easily view the whole village in half an hour but as I had the time I took advantage of it. I felt at peace wandering the colorful pathways and spent several hours admiring the art and engaging with the locals. I was quite obviously the only non local in the village. Wandering around in my bright blue ski jacket taking photos of every square inch of art I stood out like a sore thumb and had a few people wave at me and say hello. There is no charge to view the art as it is just a part of where they live and it was obvious that although it is sign posted from the road as an art village it doesn't get all that many visitors. I made a point to buy a drink and a snack from the two local shops and bought a fabulous photo of the village buried in snow from a sweet lady in her photography studio.

Unlisted on the top tourist sights such as Trip Advisor, Shinhwa is an under-appreciated local gem that should be on the top of any tourists to do list. Most people probably stumble across it as I did and wonder why in a town with so little for tourists to do it wasn't listed anywhere. Hopefully this will soon change but until then you will just have to take my advice and head there yourself.

(Show your taxi driver the pictures of the street signs below and they can get you there!)

Hope You Enjoy the Photos!

Thanks for reading and Cheers to another year of blogging!