While meat markets are pretty cool too, I find that there’s something a little brighter, perhaps slightly less morbid about visiting fish markets.

Then again, possibly it’s because I like to eat seafood more than anything else on this planet!

There was no way I was going to miss the Noryangjin Fish Market when I traveled to Seoul. It was a priority, and I wasn’t disappointed!

There happens to be a really cool overlooking balcony where you can take photos of the fish market and observe the action from above.

The sheer variety of seafood and the freshness is what really stood out.

Seoul’s fish market was quite a bit more organized than the Dar Es Salaam fish market. The stalls were neatly laid out and each kind of seafood was arranged in its own swimming pool container.

Also, I didn’t fully figure it out, but there seemed to be sections for shellfish, big fish, crustaceans, and random slimy things.

Shellfish were in no short supply – there were heaps of healthy looking sea snails, clams, oysters and everything else that resides in the sea within a shell.

South Korean food is known for its octopus – it’s a prized delicacy in Seoul!

There was everything from tubs full of squirming baby octopus to gigantic octopus displayed like trophies.

I still can’t tell if they are frowning or smiling? What do you think?

Rays were available in abundance, just waiting for a customer to order a fresh plate of thin sliced sashimi!

The Noryangjin Fish Market is particularly well known for the abundance of sea squirts, gnarly looking creatures.

As vendors slice their outer shells, a squirt of some kind of unknown liquid shoots out – sometimes a few meters!

There was an absolutely gorgeous selection of prawns that I wanted to immediately scoop up and eat like steak. They were beautiful, some of them as large as long as my forearm.

The market also included plenty of random slimy sea cucumbers and other things that looked a little scary but would be fantastic to sample!

Similar to eating seafood dampa in Manila, there are a number of restaurants located on the same floor and also upstairs of the market. You can either choose to purchase seafood straight form the market and have a restaurant cook it to your liking, or you can just walk into one of the restaurants and order off their menu.

Slightly worried about the cost of purchasing fresh seafood and proceeding to pay the restaurant to cook it, I opted for the latter option.

A sea bass hot pot, one of the cheaper things on any menu I saw, cost a total of 30,000 Won ($25) for 2.

The price included a bunch of different Korean side dishes that made it fully worthwhile, even including a small fried fish and a few fantastic oysters!

With water circulating aquariums, the fish market has certainly taken freshness to new levels!

If you love seafood, Seoul’s Noryanjin Fish market will be one of the most attractive things to do in Seoul! Don’t miss it!