Hue - The Imperial City

Hue lived up to it's reputation as one of the must dos on a trip to Vietnam. For us the climatic change was dramatic and most welcome from daytime highs of mid 30s to the high teens and low 20s with a misty rain. This allowed us to put in 2 - 5 hour walking days in this pedestrian oriented city. It is a city with lots of atmosphere reflected in its buildings which are mostly low rise. The highlight of our time here was a tour of the Citadel and Imperial Palace which we did on our own without a guide and it worked well for us. Sometimes guides are important but not always. The palace covers acres of land where architecturally stunning buildings were created to blend with the landscape. We will never forget Hue if for no other reason than that we arrived just prior to midnight New Years Eve and had the good fortune to find a lively French Restaurant where we tipped our glasses to the New Year. Hue is noted for it's excellent cuisine and we will never argue with that claim. Our hotel was great and it was here that we had a meeting with our motorcycle guide representing Easy Riders. We will have more to say about our trip with them in our next blog.