The Hanoi Old Quarter brims with history and everyday life, having once served as the commercial heart of the imperial Thăng Long Citadel, with its maze of narrow lanes forming around craft guilds as early as the 13th century. Each of its famed 36 streets was once dedicated to a particular trade, such as silver on Hang Bac, fabric on Hang Dao and votive paper on Hang Ma, giving the Quarter a distinctive commercial character still reflected in its street names and specialities. Visitors today wander through bustling markets like Đồng Xuân Market, sip street-side egg coffee, sample fragrant bowls of pho or bun chả in tiny alley cafés, and lose themselves in the living tapestry of sounds, smells and colours that is Hanoi life.