If you visit the city of Guilin in China, from August to October, you can enjoy the cinnamon flavored air, due to the flowers of the cinnamon tree, the cassia. This is actually the signification of the name of the city; Guilin means “the forest of cassia“. But the city and the surroundings are best known for the limestone hills that form the unreal and unique landscape, representing one of the most inspiring and beautiful places in China.

On more than 120 kilometers along the river Li, the hills are rising straight from the rice fields. Due to their weird shape, the hills were named by the locals. In Guilin you can see hills like “Five Tigers Catching a Goat” or “The Climbing Turtle”. When you see the Camel’s Hill form a certain angle, you could say that it resembles so much with a sitting camel, that the hill was carved. The biggest hill is The Festoon’s Hill, measuring 120 meters.

Guilin is also a land of legends. The old stories say that the Hill of the Elephant Trunk, on the bank of the Li river, was an elephant used by the King of the Sky to travel all around Southern China. The elephant got sick, but it was cured by a Guilin villager. The elephant was grateful and started helping the villager in his field work, but the King of the Sky got so mad, that he petrified the animal for ever. The “trunk” of the hill forms an arcade called the Arcade of the Moon in the Water, because it mirrors itself in the water like a full moon.

The Park of the Seven Stars, located in the suburbs of the Guilin city takes its name from the Hill of the Seven Stars. The peeks of this hill are pointing the seven stars of the Ursa Major constellation. There is also a cave, the Cave of the Seven Stars and a famous bridge – The Flower Bridge, built in 1540.

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