Ceramic town Icheon attracts tourists

ICHEON, South Korea, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- Ye's Park is emerging as an attractive destination for an outing in the suburbs of Seoul, allowing people to take a breather from busy daily life. Ye means arts.

Located in Icheon, 80 km east of Seoul, the village of ceramists is not well-known, as it opened just a few years ago.

The Icheon city government created the park on a 400,000 square-meter lot in 2015 to house 200 ceramists and 20 other craftsmen. As they require a long set-up period, they only recently began to open their workshops one by one.

The small, charming workshops have little chimneys that stick out to the roadside, indicating that they have kilns for baking ceramics. The ceramics street is stylish and elegant, a sharp contrast to the boisterous mood of amusement parks. Every edifice looks meticulously built.

Artists tell visitors that their flea market day shouldn't be missed, saying their favorite works sell for very good prices.

A sign for the Dannae Holy Place stands a short distance away.

The sacred place is where the remains of the victims of the nationwide persecution against Catholics in 1866 are buried. The remains of the first Korean Catholic priest, Kim Dae-geon, are also interred there.

A beautiful 5.2-km pilgrimage trail runs upward from a cathedral in the Holy Place.

The ceramic town also has a Dinosaur Arboretum, and its parking lot is jammed with tourist buses.

"Children enjoy the moving dinosaur models installed in the arboretum, while adults are fascinated by its gorgeous scenery," an arboretum official said.

The arboretum is filled with various sensor-equipped dinosaurs that move when people approach them.

Icheon is also famous for its top-rated rice, and visitors should try the steamed rice if they spend time there.
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