a visit to the Forbidden City

This is the second post in the series about sights in China which I did not have the time to write about when I was still in there. The first post was  Along the Great Wall – a description of that trip and a photo gallery.

Today the theme is the Forbidden City – with it’s countless palaces and gardens. This huge area contains a huge number of beautiful buildings and squares, a lot still not open to the public. Some of the smaller palaces have little museums opened inside (like the jade or bronze museums). The main series of palaces and courtyards – following the north-south axis – is the focus and highway for tourists, but the buildings on the east and west sides are also impressive. At the north entrance there is a beautiful garden complex – complete with rock formations, ponds and small wooden buildings.

You can find 50 more photos in this post.

The visit to the Forbidden City was very impressive, despite the huge area, heat and crowds. Unfortunately the pictures do not really capture the immense size of the main courtyards. One has to be there to really understand that “City” is not an exaggeration.