......a bit surprised--albeit in a very pleasant way. I knew Macau was in a "transition period" like Hong Kong. Both countries reverted back to China in 1999 but there was an agreement for them to have a 50 year transition. Macau is the oldest European settlement in all of Asia and the Portuguese influence is very evident.
I couldn't figure out the Hong Kong train system so I just took a taxi to the harbor and caught one of their ultra-fast twin-hull jet boats. I don't know the distance but it was almost exactly an hour trip and I would estimate most of it was 50-60 miles per hour on the water. I had all kinds of stuff written out in Chinese to show the taxi drivers and ferry people but it turned out the signage was excellent and I really had no problems. The ferry probably held 200 people and was only about a quarter full going over but packed coming back.
The only slowdown was customs getting into Macau. I had carried my passport just in case and it was a good thing, because Macau is still operating as an independent country and it took a good while to get through customs but I guess now I can add Macau to the list of countries I've visited. Once through customs, I took a taxi to the old historical district of the city. Macau is much like Las Vegas to us; the coast is virtually ringed by high-rise casinos and luxury hotels. I think in many ways, it is one of those "playgrounds for the rich." If I recall correctly, it is also a banking haven for the super-rich to hide their money.
The coastal area is like Disneyland or Branson, but once I got into the interior of the city, it became more European--read that, Portuguese. I took a ton of pictures so those will be posted later.
Some of the places I visited were the ruins of the Church of St. Paul--built in the early 1600s by the Jesuits using Japanese Christian workers. It's really unusual in that the only part of the cathedral standing today is the front facade--everything else has fallen down. The square in front, the long stairway, and the plaza at the entrance are all intact, as is the entire front wall including the statues in their alcoves and the European Baroque designs. It's very bizarre but also very beautiful.
Above the facade are the remains of the Fortress do Monte, or mountain fortress built by the Jesuits from 1617-1626 to protect the church below as well as defend the coastline. In it's time, it became a very formidable fortress for the Portuguese military and today the ruins are open and feature fortifications and old, old cannon. In between the fortress at the top of the mount and the church ruins below, there is a really nice Macau Museum and I really enjoyed it--probably spent a couple of hours here. The top floor of the museum enters into the old fortress ruins. You can visit the Fortress do Monte without visiting the museum but it would be a shame not to do both--so I chose to do the full Monte.
From there, I just kind of wandered around on my own. The other thing I really wanted to see was the Lagardo do Senado square and just by accident I wandered into it. I've had days where I couldn't find something I was looking for to save my life, but today, I just wandered aimlessly and seemed to take every correct turn on the winding streets and ended up where I wanted to be.
The Lagardo do Senado square is the true historical European heart and soul of old colonial Macau. Here, the buildings date back to the 1500s in some cases, and the plazas and fountains look very European. One of the tourist brochures I picked up listed Macau as "Venice without the canals", which I have a problem visualizing. I was in Venice many years ago on my honeymoon and I can see, however, the similarities in architecture. The square was so old, so interesting, and so beautiful and I took a bunch of photos.
Wandering down a side alley, I found a quaint Portuguese restaurant and decided to have lunch. Inside the old, old building it was very nice--two story and they sent me upstairs I suspect because the waitress up there spoke English. But besides speaking very good English, she was also very attractive and I ordered a lunch of grilled lamb ribs with rice and a soup I can't explain but it was very good. I also had not one, but two glasses, of Portuguese red wine. It was a really nice lunch, not cheap, but a good investment to make this trip memorable. And yes, I tipped the good-looking waitress more than I probably should have. My prerogative......
After that, I backtracked back to the ruins and fortress, caught a taxi back to the ferry terminal, made a fairly fast connection to Hong Kong, cleared customs, took a taxi back to the hotel, and had one very nice day.
Tomorrow I fly to Fiji and another country I can add to my list........
.....and I suspect I will find out who actually reads this blog by the responses to one of the comments I made here........
I couldn't figure out the Hong Kong train system so I just took a taxi to the harbor and caught one of their ultra-fast twin-hull jet boats. I don't know the distance but it was almost exactly an hour trip and I would estimate most of it was 50-60 miles per hour on the water. I had all kinds of stuff written out in Chinese to show the taxi drivers and ferry people but it turned out the signage was excellent and I really had no problems. The ferry probably held 200 people and was only about a quarter full going over but packed coming back.
The only slowdown was customs getting into Macau. I had carried my passport just in case and it was a good thing, because Macau is still operating as an independent country and it took a good while to get through customs but I guess now I can add Macau to the list of countries I've visited. Once through customs, I took a taxi to the old historical district of the city. Macau is much like Las Vegas to us; the coast is virtually ringed by high-rise casinos and luxury hotels. I think in many ways, it is one of those "playgrounds for the rich." If I recall correctly, it is also a banking haven for the super-rich to hide their money.
The coastal area is like Disneyland or Branson, but once I got into the interior of the city, it became more European--read that, Portuguese. I took a ton of pictures so those will be posted later.
Some of the places I visited were the ruins of the Church of St. Paul--built in the early 1600s by the Jesuits using Japanese Christian workers. It's really unusual in that the only part of the cathedral standing today is the front facade--everything else has fallen down. The square in front, the long stairway, and the plaza at the entrance are all intact, as is the entire front wall including the statues in their alcoves and the European Baroque designs. It's very bizarre but also very beautiful.
Above the facade are the remains of the Fortress do Monte, or mountain fortress built by the Jesuits from 1617-1626 to protect the church below as well as defend the coastline. In it's time, it became a very formidable fortress for the Portuguese military and today the ruins are open and feature fortifications and old, old cannon. In between the fortress at the top of the mount and the church ruins below, there is a really nice Macau Museum and I really enjoyed it--probably spent a couple of hours here. The top floor of the museum enters into the old fortress ruins. You can visit the Fortress do Monte without visiting the museum but it would be a shame not to do both--so I chose to do the full Monte.
From there, I just kind of wandered around on my own. The other thing I really wanted to see was the Lagardo do Senado square and just by accident I wandered into it. I've had days where I couldn't find something I was looking for to save my life, but today, I just wandered aimlessly and seemed to take every correct turn on the winding streets and ended up where I wanted to be.
The Lagardo do Senado square is the true historical European heart and soul of old colonial Macau. Here, the buildings date back to the 1500s in some cases, and the plazas and fountains look very European. One of the tourist brochures I picked up listed Macau as "Venice without the canals", which I have a problem visualizing. I was in Venice many years ago on my honeymoon and I can see, however, the similarities in architecture. The square was so old, so interesting, and so beautiful and I took a bunch of photos.
Wandering down a side alley, I found a quaint Portuguese restaurant and decided to have lunch. Inside the old, old building it was very nice--two story and they sent me upstairs I suspect because the waitress up there spoke English. But besides speaking very good English, she was also very attractive and I ordered a lunch of grilled lamb ribs with rice and a soup I can't explain but it was very good. I also had not one, but two glasses, of Portuguese red wine. It was a really nice lunch, not cheap, but a good investment to make this trip memorable. And yes, I tipped the good-looking waitress more than I probably should have. My prerogative......
After that, I backtracked back to the ruins and fortress, caught a taxi back to the ferry terminal, made a fairly fast connection to Hong Kong, cleared customs, took a taxi back to the hotel, and had one very nice day.
Tomorrow I fly to Fiji and another country I can add to my list........
.....and I suspect I will find out who actually reads this blog by the responses to one of the comments I made here........
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