The city of Hue in central Vietnam sits on both sides of the Perfume River and was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty from 1802 to 1945. It is also the site of the Battle of Hue, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. With a population of about 450,000, Hue is also known for sophisticated handicrafts and is considered to be the birthplace of Vietnamese royal music. The name of the city means listen. 

Citadel – We walked to the historical citadel which was built in the early 1800s. It is a large brick fortress with walls that are almost 7 meters high.  The walls were 10,000 meters in length on each of the four sides and the structure was built to accommodate 400 canons. Not all of the walls are still standing, but the portion we saw was quite impressive. 

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Imperial City – Inside the Citadel is the Imperial City, also known as the Forbidden Purple City. This inner sanctum was built for the protection of the royal family from the Nguyen Dynasty which ruled south and central Vietnam from the mid 16th century to the mid 20th century. The citadel and Imperial City were badly damaged by bombs during the French and American Wars, with only about 20 of the original 148 buildings remaining. We spent a warm day walking around the Imperial City and most of what we saw were beautifully restored temples and palaces.

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February 3 Park and River Walkway – Between a portion of the south edge of Perfume River and the main road in Hue is a beautiful park and river walkway, complete with flower-filled pots, wide walking area, decorative fountains and lamps, creative sculptures, and beautiful flowerbeds. We walked in the park and on the walkway almost every day we were in Hue. We also made good use of the benches along the river to see the lighted Trang Tien Bridge in the evenings and to watch the many people from Hue and visitors also enjoy the beautiful walkway along the river. The name of the park was chosen because February 3 is an important date in Vietnam history. The Communist Party of Vietnam was founded February 3, 1930.

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Thien Mu Pagoda – Each day that we walked from our accommodations to February 3 park we were asked by five or six different local women if we wanted to ride in a dragon boat on the river. We figured out that the women functioned as sales people for the boat owners. One morning we decided to take up the offer of a short boat excursion. We rode in a colorful, family-operated dragon boat on the Perfume River to reach the Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue’s most photographed and most well-recognized site. While visiting the pagoda we saw the 68 foot octagonal, seven-level tower, large sculptures, exterior of the monastic buildings, large bell weighing 1 1/2 tons, beautiful and well-manicured gardens, and the restored Dai Hung Temple. The pagoda, built in 1601, is one of the most ancient in the city.

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Baskin Robbins – After traveling in Vietnam for a month where ice cream is not a popular food (dietary staple for us), we were very thankful that our friends Heidi and Eric discovered a Baskin-Robbins store in Hue selling many varieties of our favorite food. Normally this ice cream eatery offers 31 flavors. The Baskin Robbins in this city had only 24 flavors, but at least 3 of them were chocolate. We visited this Baskin Robbins store every day that we were in Hue.

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