Time now for some history. Aside from raw fish and eel shabu-shabu, Yeosu is best known for its most famous inhabitant, Admiral Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598). He is a Korean national hero:
He was posted as Naval Commander in 1591, at the start of a six-year wave of Japanese invasions (the intruders were trying to conquer Korea to get to China). Admiral Yi outflanked the invaders with his turtle ships – smallish vessels with iron-spiked roofs that could navigated the islands with ease.
Unfortunately, in the usual tale of double-dealing spies, a double agent persuaded a high-ranking Korean general that the Japanese would attack in a treacherous area. Admiral Yi saw through this plot and refused to follow the general’s orders, so was stripped of his position and sent to Seoul to be tortured. However, his successor messed up and was quickly killed alongside the entire Korean fleet except for 12 ships. Yi was quickly reinstated and sent to fight with the remaining ships. He saw off the Japanese successfully but was killed by a stray bullet from the retreating army.
Here’s a stele in his memory – note that it’s on a turtle:
There’s a famous pavilion on the site of Admiral Yi’s command post and later turned into a guesthouse the year after his death. The current structure was built in 1718 and we’re reliably informed that it’s the largest single storey wooden structure in the country:
The place was thronged with busloads of tourists, each group with a sticky number of their bus on their clothing just in case they forgot. We think they were from Busan or Nepal because of their appearance, but they were clearly more interested in shopping and eating than in Admiral Yi:
In the square, we speculated about the demonstration going on (so we thought):
Not sure – could have been an ad for the popular strawberry cakes or something addressed to people in Chinese?
A stroll along the promenade and we were quickly on our own except for the fishermen:
The whole area is a series of islands with boats, suspension bridges and lighthouses:
We walked across the causeway to one such island and went up into the woods, despite the rather fearsome health provention provision at the beginning of the path:
Although we were deep in the woods, as is our experience throughout Korea, there was always an immaculate toilet close by – with plenty of signs to let you know which path to take:
A post can’t go by without at least one quirky observation from us – so here are two. First, the most ingenious solution to the panic that one might run out of phone battery:
Second, the shop you have always needed with a sample of the outcome of its promised process:
And finally, we had to share this photo of the women serving us at lunchtime – I was particularly captivated by the skull and crossbones but we seem to be okay this evening:
Sorry to be late to this fascinating post – great story about poor old Yi. I’m warming up to this culture – what’s not to like about phone charging stations in the street, free tick spray for the unprepared, and actual pictures of all the nasty bacteria one encounters as a tourist! No wonder their uniforms warn of death lurking everywhere!
Ah, Tara, you reveal the serious hiker with that throwaway comment about ‘ the unprepared’ ( in terms of ticks, mosquitoes etc). The restaurants are similarly protective : gloves ( cloth and plastic) for example are provided when crustaceans are likely to be encountered ( well, no surprises, my guess is you will have ordered them unless very confused by the menu).