Hue (Vietnam Part 5)

We drove from Hoi An to Hue in the north over the 'Cloud Pass'. It is said to be one of the most beautiful routes, as you can have a view of sandy beaches and bays from the viewpoint.

Unfortunately, we could only imagine this view because it was too hazy to really see the beaches. At the highest point, we saw the old defensive station on the mountain next to a little beach in the distance.

During a lunch stop behind the pass, we observed how oysters are cultivated on tires and then removed from them to harvest them.

In Hue, we visited the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc. Instead of a single burial site that we expected, we saw a huge complex.

The emperor had lived here for sixteen years during his reign (1847-83) to retreat. He wrote thousands of poems and played chess on his estate - perhaps he forgot that the French attacked Vietnam during his reign.

The next day, we first took a dragon boat across the Perfume River. We docked directly at the Perfume Pagoda, the 'Pagoda of the Heavenly Goddess'.

At first, we noticed the 21-meter high pagoda tower in front of us, which was built in 1884.

Afterwards, we visited the Imperial Citadel of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), where the emperors used to reside. It was built according to the model of the Forbidden City in Beijing and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A lot was destroyed during the war here, but some buildings have been rebuilt and work on other buildings has not yet been completed.

The innermost area, the forbidden purple city, was reserved for the imperial family and servants as well as the concubines and eunuchs of the emperor.

Today, everything is open to visitors, who can also visit the newly built imperial theater. The imperial box is missing, but now tourists have space inside for performances.

Depending on the current ruler, foreign influences were also incorporated into the architecture and design of the buildings within the citadel.

Then we could lean back and take a ride in a Vietnamese bicycle taxi to see the area. We felt a bit strange because someone else had to pedal for us, but we were also glad that we didn't have to navigate through the hustle and bustle of mopeds and cars ourselves.

We had one more visit to the market on our program before we returned to the hotel, where we had one more day to relax before heading back to the airport.