Fodor's Expert Review Ngoc Son Temple
On Jade Island in Hoan Kiem Lake, this quiet 18th-century shrine, whose name means "jade mountain," is one of Hanoi's most picturesque temples. This shrine is dedicated to 13th-century military hero Tran Hung Dao, the scholar Van Xuong, and to Nguyen Van Sieu, a Confucian master who assumed responsibility for repairs made to the temple and the surrounding areas in 1864. He helped build both Pen Tower (Thap But), a 30-foot stone structure whose tip resembles a brush, and the nearby rock hollowed in the shape of a peach, known as the Writing Pad (Dai Nghien). To get to the temple, walk through Three-Passage Gate (Tam Quan) and across the Flood of Morning Sunlight Bridge (Can The Huc). The island temple opens onto a small courtyard and in the pagoda's anteroom is a 6-foot-long stuffed tortoise that locals pulled from Hoan Kiem Lake in 1968.
