Architectural Delight at Hangzhou Old Street

Elegant Chinese Building in Hangzhou's Old Street

Elegant Chinese Building in Hangzhou's Old Street

It seems like I entered the Old Street of Hangzhou from one of the more quiet side, so I would be forgiven for thinking that the Hangzhou Old Street was just some boring street. This was until I encountered the main area of the Old Street. Here is the main shopping area, where most of the souvenir shops, and tourists, are. This was quite a huge contrast from the very quiet street which I entered from. This place isn’t really that different from the area around the Yuyuan Garden 豫园 in Shanghai although there are considerably less people here.

Colonial Style Building in Hangzhou's Old Street

Colonial Style Building in Hangzhou's Old Street

Probably one of the things which attracted me the most to this place was that there were both traditional and colonial style buildings in the Old Street. Most of the buildings here are one or two stories high with the ground floor turned into either a shop or a restaurant. It is quite a pity that the architecture has been relegated to the background here since I find them really attractive.

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