Gyeongju's tumuli look like a row of green breasts rising out of a lawn, and that is exactly what makes the Daereungwon park so memorable. The mounds are the royal tombs of the Silla kingdom, which ruled the south-east of the Korean peninsula for nearly a thousand years, and eventually unified the peninsula in the seventh century. The kings and queens were buried in chambers of wood and stone, sealed under a mountain of river stones and then covered with earth, and in some of them excavators found treasures: gold crowns with branching antler-like uprights, belts, earrings and glass vessels from as far away as the Mediterranean.
One of the mounds, Cheonmachong, the Heavenly Horse Tomb, has been opened so that you can walk inside a reconstruction of the burial chamber. The horse painted on a birch-bark saddle flap, a galloping white horse with its tail streaming, was found inside and has become an emblem of the city. The tombs are scattered in the middle of town, and the Cheomseongdae observatory, a bottle-shaped stone tower from the seventh century, is a short walk away. Gyeongju is often called a museum without walls, because ancient things are everywhere, even beside the cafes and bakeries.
Riding in Gyeongju is a delight if you choose your time. The city is flat and the streets are wide, and the roads around the park have lots of bicycles, tour buses and scooters. Summer is steamy and winter can be bitterly cold, but a clear autumn day, with persimmons ripening, is hard to beat.
Fuel is available in Gyeongju, a city of over a hundred and fifty thousand, with stations on the ring roads, and Yeonil to the east adds a few more. Local specialities include Gyeongju bread, a small pastry filled with sweet red bean paste, and ssambap, a meal of rice with a spread of side dishes wrapped in leaves.
Walk the park at dusk, when the mounds are floodlit and the town goes quiet, and you will feel the age of the place.