Hanoi Old Quarter, or Hanoi 36 streets, is a familiar name referred to the old town with historical memories of this capital city. Over the years, Hanoi Old Quarter may have been changed, but this area is still a top tourist attraction to experience the remains of an old Hanoi. Read this Hanoi Travel Guide to know more about the capital of Vietnam. Characteristic of the Old Quarter is the ancient architecture of the commercial area. Most of the historic houses there are shop houses with slanted tile roofs, of which the side facing the street used to be used as entrance to the shop inside. Houses of this type were mostly built in the 18th and 19th centuries — before that most houses had thatched roofs is the country' second largest city with 8 million in 2018. Nguyen Du Mau, one of Vietnam’s most beloved poets, told National Geographic, “This is a city that nurture’s the soul of a poet. It’s not something easily explained, but is something you feel. In the touch of the mist. In the sight of the Red River. In the traditions, the lives of struggle. A sense of romance hovers over Hanoi like no other city I know. You walk the streets, and you’re passing through a thousand years of history.