Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Anping Fort

 

Luckily for me, Anping Fort, a.k.a Fort Zeelandia was just a short walk away from Anping Tree House. I did however asked the aunty before setting off to look for it. Didn't want to have to back track again in the summer heat. But after following the aunty's direction, I saw the sign and just follow it to the fort. Above is the iconic shot of the fort in most of the touristy photographs. 

Inside the fort, the ground was surprisingly quite big! It reminded me of Fort Cornwellis in Penang, but so much better maintained and cleaner, and greener, and well, basically better, lol. Tainan was very much like Penang in many ways. 

Although I kept complaining about the heat, the summer days actually allows me to take wonderful photos of blue skies and lovely clouds. Like this one above, even though there isn't really a subject in focus, the cloud and the ground pattern alone deserves a place in this blog! Any photos that don't end up in my blog, or Facebook, or Instagram basically goes to the graveyard of hard disk, hardly ever to be seen before. The blog is my favourite place to place them, with a short story behind every photos. It brings back so much memories, like I could relive that moment again, just like in a song, in a food dish, in a scent, in a place :)

Coming back to the fort, they do have nice ruins around the place with explanation, with even some excavation still in progress. You were allowed to walk through those sites as well. 

And even inside the fort, the beautiful banyan trees are found everywhere, making their presents felt. I love how the roots hang everywhere, making such lovely backdrop (of front) for a photo. 

To think that I was impressed with the banyan tree at Sia Boey Penang! Here in Tainan, there was no competition. Tainan win hands down! And that it why people should travel! So that they can see, how small their world is as compared to the real globe. Above, just one of the beautiful trees inside the fort. 

I also loved the red breaks, the blue skies, and the gigantic tree here, shading me from the sun. How magnificent. And of course, with the iconic tower there too, as I made my way up those stairs to explore more. 

On higher ground, canons are placed, to protect the fort. The condition of the canons were actually quite well maintained. I also love it that it was still quite early and there wasn't many people there yet. 

There was also a gift store at the higher ground. I did went in, but there wasn't really anything interesting worth mentioning here. Photographs were all I needed to make me happy :)

Next I proceed to climb the beautiful spiral stairs up to the tower to see what's up there...

View of Anping

View of Tainan

And that is all folks! Here's a photo of me looking quite pleased with myself. to be honest, I wouldn't have visited the fort if it weren't for the combination ticket. Many reviews said it wasn't really worth it. But after going in, I think maybe people just don't like green spaces and red bricks. I love them! They make wonderful photograph!