A string of national holidays in October leads to a number of long weekends in the beginning of fall and a lot of opportunities to explore the country. One of these holidays is National Foundation Day which is a celebration of the founding of Korean as a nation. While this year I’ll be doing some adventuring outside of the country, last year I used the the extra day off work to explore Nami Island {one of over 30 islands in Korea}  with a friend.

Nami Island is interesting because it’s not a beachy or  mountainous island like many of the other ones are. Instead, Nami Island feels a little more artsy. It’s a small island filled with sculptures, art installations, and interesting bohemian attractions, think ostriches and sky bikes.

We arrived on the island later in the afternoon after stopping for lunch on the mainland and catching a quick ferry ride over.  We were greeted right away by a gorgeous walk way filled with trees and what appeared to be balloons of some sort hanging between the limbs. We strolled through without a plan, ready to simply enjoy anything the island had to offer. And it did have a lot to offer.

It didn’t take long for us to stumble upon the ostriches. While they weren’t exactly free roaming, they also weren’t fenced in with much at all. I kept waiting for one to nock the rickety wooden barrier right over and start exploring the island for itself.

After a few selfies with the ostriches we continued wandering the island passing sculptures and art installations galore. Then one quick turn and we found the sky bikes.  These were small two seater bikes complete with seat belts and cannopy as you pedal through the sky on a raised track around the island.

Towards the end of the day we went off the beaten path a bit and discovered a quiet area on the  edge of the island by some water to watch the sunset. As we started making our way back to catch the ferry home we realized that those “balloons” from the tree lined path were in fact little white lanterns that magically lit up the trail as we waited in line for the ferry. A perfectly charming ending to a long and exciting day.

I had no idea what to expect from Nami Island, but I quickly fell in love with this island and look forward to going back to continue exploring. National Foundation Day is quickly approaching once again this year which means a three day weekend and another quick getaway. As always I’ll be posting about the trip on Instagram so be sure to check it out!