We started our morning off with a walk through the port city of Keeling. There is a "Keelung" sign similar to the Hollywood Sign about a 20 minute walk from the port up a very steep hill. Walking through small passages up many stairs we were rewarded with a view of the city and our ship below/

Next we walked to the Central shopping district and then back to the port to catch our afternoon tour to Taipei.

We hoped on the tour bus and headed inland towards the fascinating city of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan as well as the country’s political, economic and cultural hub that will surprise us with its liveable sophisticated atmosphere. 

Taipei 101, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world measuring 508 metres (1660 feyy) and clearly inspired by traditional architecture. Despite being extremely modern, in fact, the tower resembles a bamboo cane and is made up of eight sections as eight is a lucky number in Chinese culture. 

We then visited the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall dedicated to Chiang Kai-Shek and a symbol of Taipei. The white marble building has a bright blue roof and is surrounded by gardens and lakes in the typical Chinese style. It is home to the National Theatre and a concert hall where many international artists have performed. 

The next stop was teh National Palace Museum, home to the largest collection of Chinese artwork in the world boasting almost 700,000 items spanning over approximately 5,000 years of history and including ceramic, porcelain, bronze and jade objects, interesting sculptures, embroideries, ancient ideogram texts and paintings. 

Our final stop was the National Revolutionary Martyrs’ Shrine, built in 1969 as a homage to the 330,000 men who sacrificed their lives during the revolution before the Republic of China was established and to those killed during the Sino-Japanese and the Chinese Civil Wars. The magnificent imposing architecture is reminiscent of the Beijing Imperial Palace in continental China and represents the martyrdom of brave spirits.