Summer Palace

Today we visited the Summer Palace. In addition to the palace itself, it includes gardens and several lakes. My kind of place! The origins of the Summer Palace date back to 1153. Since the original construction, there have been several changes over the years including the addition of the long corridor which was first built in 1750. The corridor was constructed so that the emperor’s mother could enjoy a walk through the gardens protected from the elements. It is over 720 meters long and includes more than 14,000 paintings, which depict episodes from Chinese classical literature, folk tales, both historical and legendary figures, famous Chinese buildings and landscapes along with flowers, birds, fish, and insects. The Summer Palace became a World Heritage Site in 1998. There is so much history within the Summer Palace so please see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace for a full overview.

Map of the grounds

The palace

The long corridor

Pictures of the grounds

Great Wall

Today we traveled to the Great Wall. While only about 45 miles from our hotel it took us almost 2 hours to get there. The traffic is just crazy! The cars, buses, and motorcycles weave in and out of traffic. On our way back from the Great Wall, the traffic was so bad people were standing outside of their cars. The patience button definitely needed to be pushed today!

It was all about standing in the queue and when not standing in a queue you were surrounded by people. To get to the wall you take a bus from the main area to the gondola. The queue for the bus was quick, but then we waited 45 minutes for the gondola. The other option would have been to walk close to 5,000 steps up! Once on top it was quite the site to see. This section of the Wall is mainly built of granite and is 23-28 feet high and 13-16 feet wide. It was first built in Northern Qi Dynasty (550-557). In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), two famous patriotic generals, rebuilt it in order to strengthen its defensive potential when they guarded the strategic pass. It served as the northern protective screen, guarding the capital and imperial mausoleums for generations. This section of the wall has 22 watchtowers and both sides of have parapets to defend against enemies.

Below is the queue we waited in for the gondola.

Some pictures of the wall.

Hanging out in traffic.

I do have to say that the architecture in Beijing is spectacular! Here are a few buildings.

On our way back to the hotel, we drove by the Olympic stadium.

Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City

First full day in China – first stop was Temple of Heaven

It is the largest existing structure for sacrifices to Heaven and a place where emperors prayed for a year of abundance. The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City, which we toured later in the day. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. Jiajing also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of the Sun in the east, the Temple of Earth in the north, and the Temple of Moon in the west.

As we walked in we saw a number of the locals playing cards and mahjong, which looked like dominos! Our guide said they come every day to play cards. We also saw groups of people dancing in the park as well as singing.

The first picture below is the corridor to the Temple grounds. On the left are the people playing cards. On the right is Charlotte and our guide Lucy.

This next picture is of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, where the emperor prayed for good harvests.

After leaving the Temple of Heaven, we went to a local Hutong, which is a Mongolian word meaning water well. Basically they are the alleyways and courtyards that make up the neighborhoods. They got the name during the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) as Mongolians attached great importance to water, so almost every community in the city was designed around a well, which provided the daily water for the locals.

Next up was lunch. We went to a place near the hotel called Da Wan Ju. The food was very good and the place was packed. We were the only westerners there. Stopped in the restroom before heading to Tiananmen Square. That was its own adventure! No western toilets to be found. Sorry no pictures.😛

Tiananmen Square is exactly that… a large square (the largest public square in the world at 109 acres). On one side of the square is a mausoleum for Mao Zedong and the other side is the Forbidden City. We walked from one end to the other to get to the Forbidden City.

Once on the other end of the square we entered the Forbidden City which was once the Imperial Palace. I had no idea how large it was until we were nearly done with the tour and looked back to see all the buildings. The complex covers an area of over 720,000 square meters and has over 9,000 buildings. It also seems to be where all the people are! Spent a fair amount of time pushing my way through crowds to get pictures. If I didn’t, I was left with a number of people pushing me aside so I jumped into the fray! The Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties and is China’s largest and most complete ancient buildings. It was first built in 1406 and finished in 1420. In its 500 years of history, there were 24 emperors that lived there. While there were many renovations and expansions during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City remains in its original layout.

Picture below is a map of the Forbidden City

The following are pictures of a number of the structures we saw.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Great Wall.

Beijing

Well we made it to China! First stop on our tour is Beijing. Customs was fairly easy to get through and we found our guide Lucy with little issues. After checking in at the hotel, Charlotte and I walked around a little. The city is set up as a grid so it was easy to get around. My first impressions were that there are more trees than expected and I thought there would be more tall buildings and a lot more people!

Cool building we drove by on the way to the hotel.

Shopping mall near our hotel. Looked like a mini Times Square.

China 2018

Charlotte and I will be traveling to China visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, Guilin and Hong Kong.

Beijing	Day 2 in Xi’an
Temple of Heaven, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City	Chengdu
Great Wall – Mutianyu section	Leshan Giant Buddah
Summer Palace	Guilin and the Longji Rice Terraces
Off to Shanghai	Li River
Shanghai	Guilin to Hong Kong
From Shanghai to Xi’an	Hong Kong
Xi’an	Last Day

High Atlas Mountains

Today we went up to the high Atlas Mountains. It was very nice to get out of the city. The road going into the mountains got very narrow. There was only pavement for one car.

When another car came by they would both go into the dirt a little. There were 3 cars in our group. While not snowy, there was a hairpin turn that had some ice and the lead car got stuck. He went back and forth several times and finally got moving. Another time a very large truck came through and we all had to back up to make space for him to go.

We stopped in a Berber village and walked up a steep hill to a Berber house where we had snacks. He also made us the local mint tea. It was so beautiful and peaceful there.

After walking back to the car, we drove a little way down the mountain and stopped for lunch at Richard Branson’s hotel. It was a gorgeous property in the mountains.

Marrakesh

The first stop in Marrakech we walked near the cities largest medina, Koutoubia Mosque. The Moorish Médina’s are less intricate and each side is a little different from the other. I also learned today that a Médina should be 5 times high as it is wide.

From there we went to the Méchouar Kasbah (citadel or walled city), which included tours of:

El Badi Palace: a palace in ruins which was commissioned by the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur of the Saadian dynasty sometime shortly after his accession in 1578. The palace’s construction was funded by a substantial ransom paid by the Portuguese after the Battle of the Three Kings. There were some very old reminates, including a very old chair they called a minbar, which we were not allowed to take pictures of. Most of the palace was pillaged in the 17th century.

Bahia Palace which was built in the 19th century and consisted of many courtyards and gardens as well as many beautiful mosaics.

Next was the Saadian tombs which date to time of the Saadian dynasty sultan Ahmad al-Mansur (1578-1603). The tombs were discovered in 1917 by World War I pilots. The mausoleum comprises the interments of about sixty members of the Saadi Dynasty. Among the graves are those of Ahmad al-Mansur and his family. The building is composed of three rooms. The most famous is the room with the twelve columns. This room contains the grave of the son of the sultan’s son, Ahmad al-Mansur. The stele is in finely worked cedar wood and stucco work. The monuments are made of Italian Carrara marble.

It was then on to the spice house.

After lunch we strolled through the Djemaa el-Fna square and through many of the old winding streets. There were snake charmers and people with monkeys in the square.

As we were walking the winding streets, I finally heard the call to prayer. We then saw men get up and walk to the mosque which had a door to it within all the shops.

We then took a horse drawn carriage.

Rabat

Our first stop was the 12th century Hassan Tower which is an incomplete minaret of the great mosque (which also was never finished).

Located along side is the mausoleum dedicated to Mohamed V, the founder of modern Morocco and grandfather of the current king, Mohamed VI. In addition to Mohamed V, Hassan II, the father of the current King and Hassan II’s brother are also buried in the mausoleum.

We then visited the Oudaya Kasbah, which was a citadel and is built on a bluff looking over the Atlantic Ocean. We walked through the gardens and the streets within the walls.

Chellah in Rabat

Chellah is a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis. Part of the site included Roman ruins and the other side had Muslim ruins. Here are some pictures.

The Berbers used the site as their royal burial grounds.

Volubilis

Volubilis, the home to the largest Roman ruins in Morocco. There were several mosaic floors that were still intact. For more information, check out the Wiki page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volubilis

Here are some of the pictures