La Rue Vibre !

A Catholic church, a Protestant church, Gothic architecture here and there, shops with German signs, a street named “Guantao Strasse”… this is not a dream, you are in Qingdao (or Tsingtao) in China!

The city was built by Germans about a century ago. The land was given to Germany by Mandchous for a 99 years term. Under duress of course! This Heritage gives the city a particular atmosphere because Germanic and Modern architectures are standing side by side.

But large crowd of Chinese people arriving here with tourism buses certainly do not come to pay a tribute to this past. They come for the beach and… the beer! Obviously you would not dream of this kind of beaches. They are totally crowded and not so clean… So if you are not fond of going on a walkabout, just focus on gastronomic aspect of the city!

German settlers were far away of their country and of course very nostalgic for their drinks. Thus they built a brewery in Qingdao. Chinese got it back in 1922. The factory is more active now than ever and produce the famous Tsingtao beer you can find in every Chinese restaurant in the world. Qingdao inhabitants love their beer so much that you can find hand-drawn beer in every shop in the city. For 50cts euros you buy 1kg of beer in a plastic bag. This is not so easy to drink like this however…

The city even has its own “Beer street” which is located near Tsingtao factory. Every evening many tourists (mainly Chinese) come here and order a lot of food and pitchers of beer. If you get drunk do not mistake the beer barrel for the waste bin!

Of course as Qingdao is near the sea this also means you can easily find seafood and fishes. Here every restaurant has its own aquariums with alive shellfishes, seafood and fishes. And you can choose which one you would like to have in your plate. It is delicious! Proposed products are very divers in colors, smells and flavors.

Qingdao is a surprising and original stop. Do not miss it if you can withstand the crowd!