Cheongdo Fortress 청도읍성

Cheongdo Fortress was built in the 1590 and took two years to complete. In Korean the word 성 (said: sung) is most readily translated to castle. There is, however, a difference between a European castle and a Korean castle. A Korean castle is a wall that protects the homes inside of it so it mostly looks like a fortified wall or a fortress. The word is used to mean fortress and also a European castle.

Still, from a distance, I get a European castle vibe. The fortress is surrounded by farms and behind it mountains.

Cheongdo Fortress in the distance

Cheongdo fortress was created to help fight off invasions from the foreign invasions (especially Japanese invasions). Later it was mostly burned in fire as many relics were in Korea, but it has now been beautifully restored. I'm sure I would need some restoring if I was lucky to be around so long.

The cool thing about this fortress is it feels like a living relic. Inside the walls there are modern and regular folks homes, laundry hung out to dry and little alleyways through the homes, beautiful traditional Korean hanok (한옥) restaurants (hanoks are traditional Korean structures with the intricate roofing made with wood, first designed in the Joseon dynasty), lotus gardens with a gazebo, and coffee shops.

A view of the lotus pond from the coffee shop.

Hanok Restaurant ~traditional Korean building

A habok restaurant in chogajip style with a thatched natural grass roof

On the outside of the wall, there are more lotus gardens, traditional gazebos, and restaurants.

For me, it feels like a traditional city without all of the touristy hubbub.

Breezy Pavillion on the fortress wall

We've visited here a couple of times so far. Once cycling around Cheongdo and another time with our kids. Our kids 6 and 9 years old just loved it. They loved walking around on the wall, rolling down the hills around the wall, playing with the old wooden doors in the cool pavilions, and the castle feel.

Walking the interior of the walls gives great sweeping views of the farms, little town, and mountains.

The wall walk is fun with bridges and cool breezy traditional pavillions.

There is plenty of parking right next to the fortress.

Google address for here: https://goo.gl/maps/vAB4n4q87j1Xo8369