Dihua Street is the architectural and commercial heart of old Taipei: a kilometre-long stretch of two- and three-storey shophouses, mostly red-brick and stuccoed in Baroque-revival style, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The street has been a wholesale market for as long as anyone can remember — Chinese medicinal herbs, dried mushrooms, dried fish, tea, fabric — and the trade carries on in the same shops today.
In the weeks before Lunar New Year the street is one of the most exuberant places in the city, jammed end-to-end with stalls selling sweets, candied fruit, jerky, melon seeds, and decorations. The rest of the year the pace is slow and the street rewards an unhurried wander, with cafes and design shops increasingly tucked into the upper floors. The 1859 Xiahai City God Temple halfway up is a good central reference point.