Hue "The citadel"

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Hue, the lovely citadel located in central Vietnam just on the "Sông Huong", the Perfume river. Inside the Hue's citadel someone can admire the long history of the past dynasties with its valuable architectural works, which are the reflection of the life of Emperors and mandarins under Nguyen’s Dynasty reign.

In 1993, Hue became a UNESCO world heritage site. The Imperial Citadel of Hue, was built following the idea of Peking’s Forbidden City, surrounded by a 10-meter thick wall and a moat.

The access to the imperial citadel was permitted to the rulers and their relatives only, and anyone that was caught inside the walled city was punished with the death penalty.

I could feel the picturesque view of this lovely place and I appreciated the the friendliness of the local people that, even though they lived a tough past of wars and conflicts, are always full of energy and happy to help you.

Another good aspect of Hue is its cuisine, for people who love vegetarian food is a great place. Several vegetarian restaurants are scattered around the city.

Anyone coming to visit Hue will remain dazzled by its beauty and cozy people and a few days spent here are absolutely recommended.

I always have a strong feeling of compassion when I visit the towns that were affected by the vietnam war.

Vietnam is one of those countries, in Asia, that I visited with a genuine interest, I read a bit its history and past conflicts.

Vietnam was, for about two thousand years, ruled by several dynasties until the 18th century. The last dynasty ruling the country was the "Nguyen dynasty". After many centuries of ruling dynasties, the French started to colonize the country, in the mid part of the 18th century, for about a hundred years. The colonial rule of France, though, lasted until the first Indochina War, from 1946 till when it was defeated in 1954.

Vietnam fought decades long war that ended, eventually, in 1975 with the fall of Saigon.

The worst part of this long war was during the American occupation, that supported the corrupted government of Thieu, in south Vietnam, against the Soviet supported Communist, in north Vietnam.

Over a million people were injured and over a million people died in this war, ten million tons of bombs and twentyfive thousand tons of defoliant were used in this war.

Many people say a "wrong war", I agree with that, but the meaning of this war, considering what Vietnam has become now, was incomprehensible.

Many decades of fighting with the idea of creating a new and different society when, at the end, the Communist have built the same society that would have been built, much before and probably better, if the others had won that war.

A materialistic society, where people are always busy with their business, to try to make up as much money as possible, and where the difference between the poor and the rich people is widening.

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Comments

[Dancing Dave]

The citadel
Inspired by the Forbidden City in Beijing gives an indication of the wealth of the Nguyen Dynasty. Your pics gave a wonderful wander through that amazing place. Gotta be on my must list when I next visit Vietnam. Thanks Marcos.

[Travelphilosophy]

The citadel
Hey Dave, nice to read your comment again! You must really go there and admire the past vestiges of this lovely citadel.