Nearly three centuries ago, the Dutch stormed the shores of Taiwan and seized a military bastion near the beach in Tainan as their command center. They called this place “Fort Zeelandia,” (遮蘭堡) and put the finishing touches on it in 1634, replete with mounted cannons, high brick walls, and a lookout tower to keep an eye out for aboriginal or Taiwanese insurgents. Long after the gunpowder plumes and cannon blasts have settled into history, what we have inherited today is a lovely park shaded with enormous, gnarled banyan trees reminiscent of those found in Angkor Wat — almost — and bullet-chipped brick walls surrounding a museum-like fortress.

Switching names to “Taiwan City,” “Imperial Castle,” and, finally, “Anping Fort” (安平古堡) after the Taiwan Retrocession in 1894, this nostalgic piece of colonial history (NT$50 admission fee for adults) should be jotted down on all must-see Taiwan destination lists.

A noodle vendor serving up spicy bowls on the sidewalk outside agrees. “See it now,” he said in Taiwanese. “Because you never know when it will change hands again.”

My travel partner and I asked him to clarify this statement.

“It was taken by the Dutch and expanded upon by them many, many years ago,” he continued. “And the word on the street is that they want it back.”

We asked where he got his information from.

“The Dutch themselves,” he replied. “There is still a small group of them from way back when living here. They walk by Anping and glare at it enviously. Taiwan is distracted by China at the moment, so this is an opportune time for Holland — which they say has an invasion plan drawn up — to snatch it back.

Taiwan will never know what hit her. Once the Dutch launch the attack and scoop Anping back, they’ll be able to reclaim the entire island...”

I looked up at the battle cannons and tried to imagine them being manned by modern day Europeans repelling a Taiwanese counter-strike. As bizarre as the vendor’s story was, one Dutch student from Cheng Kung University (成功大學) who we ran into near the fort refused to comment on the rumor and walked briskly away, fueling our suspicion.

Located on the same block as Anping Fort just outside the entrance is the Anping Fort Museum (admission free), which houses an amazing collection ancient Taiwanese artifacts ranging from traditional garments, musical instruments, opium pipes and fish traps that could snare a sea monster — just for starters.

A short drive from Anping Fort is the Eternal Castle (NT$25 admission), which is surrounded by a carp-filled moat. This place is not so much a castle as it is a former training ground for troops.