On the slope of Songak mountain, a terrace of stone foundations and steps marks where the Koryo kings had their palace, known as Manwoldae, the moon-full terrace. The name suggests the beauty of the setting rather than the architecture, and the complex was largely destroyed by Red Turban invaders in 1361, so what survives is the platform and the stone staircases that climbed it. A few hundred metres away stands the Chomsongdae, a stone platform with stone supports that is traditionally described as an astronomical observatory, built in the Koryo period and used to watch the sky, though like many such claims, its exact use is a matter of scholarly discussion.
A frank word about access: Kaesong is in North Korea, a short way north of the border, and foreign visitors can only go as part of an organised tour. That means no independent riding, no choosing your own stops, and no way to plan fuel or food for yourself, so what follows is a picture of the place rather than a route. The monuments are part of the UNESCO-listed historic sites of Kaesong, together with the old city walls and the Sonjuk Bridge.
The terrain is soft and green. Pines grow on the slopes, apricot and persimmon trees stand in the villages, and the stone of the old palace is warm brown where the grass has been cut back. In spring, azaleas and cherry blossom appear on the hillside, and in autumn the forest on Songak is golden and red. The sky tends to be clear and dry in autumn, which is the best season.
Koryo was one of the great periods of Korean culture. Its potters made celadon, a pale green glaze admired across Asia, and its printers produced the Tripitaka Koreana, a massive set of Buddhist scriptures carved onto more than eighty thousand wooden blocks, stored today at Haeinsa in the south. Metal movable type was used in Korea in the thirteenth century, long before Gutenberg, and Kaesong's scholars were part of that world.
The city has a long culinary tradition too, with elaborate multi-dish meals and sweet rice cakes, and it was a ginseng centre. Enthusiasts of history may find more to read than to see, since much of what the Koryo built was lost in war.