The city of Guangzhou in southern China is home to nearly 15 million residents, more than the entire population of Greece. Together with its neighboring cities, it forms one of the largest urban areas on Earth.  But despite sporting an increasingly cramped skyline, some pockets of Guangzhou can be surprisingly sedate, even downright nostalgic – and they're a pleasure to explore on foot.

In the last two centuries, Guangzhou was better known as Canton to the West. At the time, it was through this port city that all foreign trade with China was conducted, meaning Guangzhou had no shortage of merchants. The most successful lived in the Xiguan District, with many doing business out of lanky tenement buildings called "qilou." On the ground floor were shop fronts that extended onto the sidewalk. They were protected from the elements by arcades, allowing customers to shop come rain or shine. The owners and their families lived upstairs, often in cramped conditions with bunks attached directly to the walls of their 4-meter-wide room. Though this probably doesn't sound like your dream home, these properties were prime real estate, sandwiched between the bustling trading port and the foreign enclave of Shamian Island.

Shamian Island is where foreign merchants stayed when they came to China. Formerly a concession split between the British and the French, it was manned by Sikh and Vietnamese police and had a strict 10 p.m. curfew, after which bridges connecting the island to the rest of Canton were raised. It was a little pocket of Europe and somewhat of a gilded cage, as foreign merchants were only given three days a month during which they could venture off the island to a few select places around the city. Still, its colonial-era mansions, red-brick clubhouses and leafy boulevards make for an interesting contrast to the narrow streets and qilou buildings of old Guangzhou.