The Summer Palace in Beijing

The Summer Palace in Beijing is a fascinating place. During a stopover in Beijing, I took the opportunity to visit one of the city’s famous places. However, Beijing has many such great places. But the Summer Palace is an important part of Chinese history. The palace area combines a lake with palaces and gardens. The palaces and gardens were built on top and around a hill. From the top of the hill, it’s an amazing overview of the whole area.

The palace is based on a Chinese legend about three divine mountains. The reflection on this is the three islands in the lake. Actually, the lake is a copy of the West Lake in Hangzhou. The West Lake is a very famous lake in China with a legend as well.

The Summer Palace is a masterpiece of Chinese culture and architecture. That shows a great and old Chinese culture.  The palace was the residence of the empire during the summertime. Just to escape from the hot Forbidden City in Beijing.

Surprisingly, many visitors start the sightseeing tour down from the lakeside. That means moving up to the top of the hill. However, the opposite tour is much easier. Because the way is only downhill. It’s a walkthrough of beautifully pavilions, pagodas or temples. What amazing Chinese architecture.

One of the most impressive places is the “Garden of Harmonious Pleasures” and the copy of a canal from Suzhou. Although, the place reminds me a little of Venecia. Of course, it’s difficult to compare. However, there are canals, boats and houses built close to the water. Anyway, it’s a stunning experience to walk up and down between the water and the buildings on the narrow roads. Even if it took a couple of hours on a hot summer day, the Summer Palace is a wonderful place.