Xi'an City Map

Xi'an City Map

Xi'an is a 3,000 year old walled city. It has served as the capital of 11 dynasties for a total of 1,080 years. The most important dynasties were the Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang. It is considered the Eastern Terminus of the Silk Road trade route. Our hotel was just a block outside of the Northwestern section of the massive Imperial wall. It's listed as the Da Qing Lu on the map. The wall has been fully restored and residents must drive through one of the 13 gates of the wall to navigate about town. Outside of the gate is a fully maintained moat. The massive wall is 12m high and 15-18m thick at the base. It's circumference covers about 12km.

The Terracotta Warrior Museum lies several kilometers outside of Xi'an's outer city limits. The Huaqing Hotsprings we visit are just a few kilometers south of the warriors. During our visit of Xi'an, we also explore the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the Shaanxi Opera House, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter and the Qingzhen Si or Huajue Si Great Mosque Complex.