Gantries as tall as buildings first slide past beyond the railing: Ulsan is home to the largest shipyard in the world, and the arrival takes place among hulls under construction, flare stacks and LNG carriers. The setting heralds Korea's industrial capital, the stronghold of the Hyundai group; it also hides the real reason for the call, an hour's drive away: Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla kingdom, which Koreans call the "museum without walls". As the berths are in the port zone, shuttles and motorcoaches provide the link to the centre and the excursions.

The road to Gyeongju

For nearly a millennium, Silla ruled the peninsula from this valley, and Gyeongju retains a density of remains unmatched in the country. Most passengers devote their day to it, and the drive itself, between pine-covered hills and rice paddies, gently prepares you for the change of era.

Bulguksa and Seokguram Grotto

On the wooded slopes southeast of the city, Bulguksa Temple raises its pavilions on great 8th-century stone terraces, listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site; two ancient pagodas, one plain, the other finely wrought, face each other in the main courtyard, among lanterns and maples. Higher up the mountain, Seokguram Grotto shelters a granite Buddha that has gazed at the East Sea for twelve centuries; you approach it along a short forest trail, and the serene face of the colossus richly rewards the climb.

Tombs in the middle of the streets

The downtown area is even more surprising: enormous grass-covered mounds, the tombs of the Silla kings, rise between the streets like tamed hills. Daereungwon Park lets you wander among these green domes and enter one of them, fitted out to show the burial chamber and its gold ornaments. A few minutes' walk away, the stone tower of Cheomseongdae, a 7th-century observatory, ranks among the oldest of its kind in East Asia; Wolji Pond and its reconstructed pavilions make a pleasant addition to the stroll. Between sites, tea houses and restaurants serving rice wrapped in vegetable leaves let you recharge the local way, and bakeries sell small buns filled with red beans that residents have made their favourite treat. A day goes by quickly in this setting where every lawn hides a king.

Staying on the Ulsan side

Those who prefer to avoid the road will find plenty to fill their hours. Daewangam Park lines up twisted pines and reddish rocks linked by a footbridge above the waves; local legend has the spirit of a Silla queen, turned into a guardian dragon, watching over it. In town, the Taehwa River runs along an immense bamboo forest where the light falls in stripes, and the Jangsaengpo district, a former whaling port, recalls that bygone era in Korea's only whale museum.

Port of call at a glance

On the way back, the smokestacks of the petrochemical complex glow red in the evening, worlds away from the silent domes of Daereungwon. Few ports of call offer such a gap between the place where you dock and what you take home: a Korea with two faces, one that assembles steel giants and one that has been polishing its granite for twelve centuries, and you return on board with the rare feeling of having seen, in a single day, both at their best.