Map of Hue
I liked Hue. I have always liked Hue, even though I had never been here before! It is a place with a lot of history.
Hue is built on the Perfume River (you have to love the place, for that reason alone), quite some distance inland, where Route I crosses the river on its way between Saigon and Hanoi. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) gained control over the whole of Vietnam, and decided to move his capital from Hanoi to a point in the middle of the country. This site was chosen, and a citadel built based on the most current design of European fortification. This consisted of a huge ring of ramparts behind a moat around the whole city, with bastions on the ramparts that provided mutual defense. Within the Citadel, an inner moated enclosure surrounded the Imperial Enclosure, in which the Emperor and his Mandarins worked. A further inner area within the Imperial Enclosure, called the Purple Forbidden City, was reserved for the private use of the Emperor and his family only. Canals were used to divert water from the Perfume River through the moats. The Nguyễn (pronounced "Noowin") dynasty remained here for a century and a half.
This map shows how in the last century, the city has spread over onto the south bank, connected by a rail bridge and two road bridges. We stayed in the "SG Morin", a splendid old hotel occupying an historic French colonial building at the south end of the Trang Tien bridge (Cau Truong Tien) - in the biggest hotel room I have ever stayed in!
Map of Hue
I liked Hue. I have always liked Hue, even though I had never been here before! It is a place with a lot of history.
Hue is built on the Perfume River (you have to love the place, for that reason alone), quite some distance inland, where Route I crosses the river on its way between Saigon and Hanoi. In 1802, Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (later Emperor Gia Long) gained control over the whole of Vietnam, and decided to move his capital from Hanoi to a point in the middle of the country. This site was chosen, and a citadel built based on the most current design of European fortification. This consisted of a huge ring of ramparts behind a moat around the whole city, with bastions on the ramparts that provided mutual defense. Within the Citadel, an inner moated enclosure surrounded the Imperial Enclosure, in which the Emperor and his Mandarins worked. A further inner area within the Imperial Enclosure, called the Purple Forbidden City, was reserved for the private use of the Emperor and his family only. Canals were used to divert water from the Perfume River through the moats. The Nguyễn (pronounced "Noowin") dynasty remained here for a century and a half.
This map shows how in the last century, the city has spread over onto the south bank, connected by a rail bridge and two road bridges. We stayed in the "SG Morin", a splendid old hotel occupying an historic French colonial building at the south end of the Trang Tien bridge (Cau Truong Tien) - in the biggest hotel room I have ever stayed in!