감포 Gampo is one of the administrative areas on the eastern coast of the peninsula, located to the east of Gyeongju city. It takes about 40 minutes from Gyeongju Bus Terminal to Gampo harbor by bus. Fishing was great all along the sea around Gampo, so during the colonial age, Japanese developed it as a major fishing base. Gampo is still one of the major fishing harbors along the eastern coastline. Pacific saury, anchovy, ray, sea mustard, and abalone are caught in and around the shore.
Restaurants specialized in Korean style seafood stand close together along the nearby street right next to the sea in port, and local shops and street vendors selling dried fish and seaweed are lined up along the market street. Compared to the tourist area, old Gampo(photo below) to the north of the market area offers a peaceful atmosphere. Visitors feel like that some Japanese style houses on the slope talk silently to the strangers about their forgotten past.
About 4 years ago, Gampo used to be packed with tourists on weekends who wish to taste various seafood like slices of raw fish, broth, and stew and buy seafood. But since the construction of expressway linking Daegu and Pohang was completed in 2004, the number of visitors has been considerably decreased. Since then, many tourists have crowded to the nearby big harbor, Pohang because they can shorten and save the driving time to get the eastern coast and taste the fresh seafood.
