Zhenjiang in a day: floating-lid noodles, an old ferry street, and black vinegar

Zhenjiang sits where the Grand Canal meets the Yangtze, about twenty minutes by high-speed train from Nanjing. Most travellers pass straight through it. One unhurried day on foot shows why the city once mattered, and why it still eats well.

Morning: noodles under a floating lid

Start with guogai mian (锅盖面), the city's breakfast noodle. The cook floats a small wooden lid on the boiling water inside a much larger wok, and the noodles cook around it. Order a side of yao rou (肴肉), a pressed, jellied pork served cold with shredded ginger and a saucer of dark local vinegar.

镇江三怪：香醋摆不坏，肴肉不当菜，面锅里面煮锅盖。

Locals sum up the city in a rhyme about its three oddities: vinegar that never spoils, pork that is not counted as a dish, and a lid boiled in the noodle pot. By the time you finish breakfast you will have met all three.

Midday: the old ferry street

Walk to Xijindu (西津渡), a stepped lane of stone and timber that once ran down to the river crossing. The Yangtze has since drifted north, so the lane now ends above dry land. The street shows where the water used to be. Look for the Zhaoguan stone pagoda, a small Yuan-dynasty stupa built over the lane so that everyone walking through passes beneath it.

Afternoon: one hill, not two

Pick a single hill and give it time. Jinshan Temple, to the west, climbs a hill that stood in the river as an island until silt joined it to the shore. Beigushan, to the east, looks out across the water to the far bank. Either one fills two or three hours at walking pace, and trying to fit in both turns the afternoon into a checklist.

Evening: take the vinegar home

Zhenjiang xiangcu (镇江香醋), the city's black rice vinegar, is sold in shops and supermarkets all over town. Wrap a bottle in clothing for your checked bag. Trains back to Nanjing and Shanghai run into the evening, so there is no need to leave before dinner.