Hoa Lư

A little over 100 km and almost due south from Hà Nội, in the Red River Delta, is the ancient Vietnamese capital of Cố đô Hoa Lư, which was the Đại Cồ Việt capital and the “economic, political and cultural center of , an independent [from China] Vietnamese polity founded in 968” CE until about 1010 CE. It's situated in a “flat valley between small but steep limestone mountains that created virtually impenetrable barriers to human traffic”.

Invasion attempts by Champa in 972 CE and the Song Dynasty in 981 were defeated before they were able to get close to Hoa Lư, which meant the immediate defences were left untested. Inside the capital it was another matter; Đỗ Thích, a eunuch, assassinated “king Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and prince Đinh Liễn while they were sleeping in the palace at night” in October 979 CE, “general Lê Hoàn took power as regent while five-year-old Đinh Toàn occupied the throne.” After several rebellions and another attempted Chinese intervention Lê Hoàn took power in his own right in 980 CE. After Lê Hoàn’s death in 1005 CE there was a succession crisis along with scandals that resulted in Lý Công Uẩn, a high ranking Mandarin, taking power by general “agreement” within the court. See  , unfortunately I can't provide the link because this website editor  has rejected it.

After walking around the complex for a while we went off to lunch. Some of the intrepid in our group elected to go on a bicycle tour while the rest of us sat by the river before we boarded boats to glide through some of the extensive limestone karsts of Tam Cốc.