One of the alleys
After we spent a few days in Hong Kong, we continued our trip to Macau (or sometimes it’s spelled Macao). We planned to take the ferry boat from Hong Kong, which took about less than one hour. The ferry from Hong Kong to Macau operates 24 hours (0700 – 1800, 1815 – 0630) which departs every 15 minutes. There are quite a lot of stores restaurants in the ferry terminal, including McDonald … (and I missed the breakfast package there! Haha …).
We took the 1145 schedule, so approximately we were officially in Macau (after the immigration process) around 1315 in the afternoon.
The hotel that we chose to stay was at Grand Lisboa, located in the Macau Peninsula. Macau is actually divided into 4 parts: Macau Peninsula as the main island, and then Taipa (where Macau International Airport is located), Cotai Strip (where many casinos are located, including the Venetian Macao), and also Coloane.
Although Macau is famous with the Casinos, the mixture of Portuguese heritage that is shown in the churches and the fortress, with Chinese temples make Macau an interesting country to be explored.
Senado Square
As we only have a little time here, we only had a chance to visit some of its historical sites.
After putting our luggage in the hotel, we started to walk to the historical site, especially the Ruins of St. Paul’s. I didn’t expect that Macau would be that hot! I just wanted to walk fast, and found a shade asap haha.
We entered the historical central through the Senado Square, where nearby of the square there’s a St. Dominic’s church. From this point I could see the different of the building structures with pastel colour.
St. Dominic’s Church
Then we just followed the street sign with 3 languages: Cantonese, English, and Portuguese.
Some of the buildings are already turned into stores. I could see many brands like Bossini, Body Shop, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Also there are a lot of food stores that sells the authentic food of Macau, including the egg tart 😀
The buildings with old architecture
Lidya and the Ice Cream Man! 😀
But then we passed this Turkish Ice Cream store ~ where the seller played around with the ice cream but the ice cream never falls lol. Ice cream is a good thing to treat yourself in the hot and humid weather haha!
Finally … We reached the Ruins of St. Paul’s. I was amazed with it. There’s only the facade of the St. Paul’s church, and it still stands tall! The facade was actually the main facade of the old Church of Mater Dei which is established in 1580. Unfortunately, the church suffered three fires in 1595, 1601, and in 1835. And then, what is left from the church is now known as the Ruins of St. Paul’s.
The Ruins of St. Paul’s
Behind the facade, I could see the photos of the St. Paul through the years, the foundation of some chapels, and also there’s a Museum of Sacred Art. Inside the museum, there are many arts from 16th to the 20th centuries. Then, there’s another section called Crypt, the Chapel-crypt, which was built on the same location of the main-altar of the Church of St. Paul’s College. In the centre of the crypt, I could see a bronze cross. On the side walls, there’s a glass-fronted relilquaries that keeps the remaining of the Martyrs from Japan and Vietnam. They also hanged plaques that has the name of the Martyrs.
Behind the facade of St. Paul’s
The Crypt
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Matteo Ricci Stat…
Beside the Ruins of St. Paul’s, there’s a museum which is located inside the park called Macao Museum, and also the Mount Fortress. Myself and Yudhi just walked in the park, while Lidya and Dewi decided to see the Mount Fortress. While in the park, apparently there’s a statue of Matteo Ricci, an Italian priest that went to Macau for missionary activity. That’s explained why I saw the name ‘Ricci’ painted on one of the wall in front of St. Paul’s.
It’s already 4PM, it’s best for us to finish this historical site tour, as we have another plan to see the glamorous night of Macau! But before we return to the hotel, we decided to visit some food store to buy some cookies, and egg tart 😀
Adeus! 🙂
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The currency for Macau is Macau Pataca. However you can still use your HKD in Macau. The actual exchange rate is 1HKD = 1.03MOP, but in reality 1HKD = 1MOP.
Ferry ticket Hong Kong – Macau (Ecomony Class): HKD151
For more information about the ferry ticket, please go to TurboJet Website
In the ferry terminal, there are some free shuttle bus to the city centre, usually organized by the hotel. In my case, as I stayed in Grand Lisboa, they provide a free shuttle bus to Grand Lisboa Hotel (which is located in the city centre – Macau Peninsula ;)) ~ thanks Bama for reminding me this 🙂
To found out more about Macau, please go to the Macau Government Tourist Office.
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While you chose to stay at Grand Lisboa, I only used their free bus service to get me from the ferry terminal to the city center. 🙂 But somehow I don’t see any picture of the eggtart. I hope you didn’t miss it.
Yes, ure right! There’s a free shuttle bus from the ferry terminal to the city centre! Thanks for reminding me that.
About the eggtart … Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of it 😀