Macau Revisited

St. Paul Ruins in Macau

Photo taken by : Tess Raymundo

Macau is a place that one can visit for a day during a trip to Hong Kong. 

Although Macau is a small place, it is an interesting place to visit since the Centre of Macau is part of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. It is also an important international port in Asia.

Macau is filled with Portuguese built  neo-classical
 architectural structures and old churches in pastel colours.
 It shows mixed influences from the East and the West.

There are several fast ferry boats that leave Hong Kong's TST(Tsim Sha Tsui) area every 30 minutes which go to Macau. The price of the roundtrip boat ride is around HKD400 per person. The ferry terminal is just a few steps from Harbour City mall in TST(Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon). Some known companies that provide fast ferry service are Turbojet and Cotai. Just remember to bring your passport since it needs to be checked at Immigration.

It has been a few years since I have been to Macau. I still remember that the first time I went there before my brother and I had dinner at the Four Seasons hotel and watched a fun show by Cirque du Soleil called "Zaia" at the Venetian Hotel's theater.  The other time I visited Macau, I ended up going around the different hotels like MGM Grand, Wynn hotel, and went to St. Paul Ruins too.

During a recent visit last July with some friends, I had the chance to  revisit Macau, go to St St. Paul ruins again and was able to see the Crypt and the Museum of Sacred Art.

Senado Square in Macau

It is Macau's urban centre for centuries. It is where public events
take place and is located near the former senate building.

St. Paul Ruins facade upclose

This is what was originally the facade of the Church of 
Mater Dei built in 1602-1640.
 It was destroyed by a fire in 1835

The divisions with glass encolosures show the areas where
the columns of the church were located before.

A cross stands on rocks inside the crypt 
inside the underground area of the St. Paul ruins.

Bones in glass enclosures can be seen by visitors  in the crypt
of St. Paul ruins.

There are various religious artifacts at the Museum of Sacred Art which shows statues made mid -19th century when Macau was still a colony of Portugal.

Visitors get a glimpse of photos showing how the Church
of Mater Dei looked like before.

After visiting St. Paul ruins, it is nice to go and walk around Macau.

View from St. Paul ruins shows a busy
Macau filled with visitors

Street food like fish balls can be bought at the stalls the moment you
get down from the staircase at St. Paul ruins

One of the well-known local bakeries  that most
visitors go to for goodies is Koi Kee. They offer
free samples which can help you decide which 
goodies you may want to buy.

Portuguese tarts at Koi Kee are freshly made and  packed warm.

Dried pork meat can be bought at Koi Kee 

Crunchy peanut snacks can be bought at Koi Kee

Almond cookies  are one of the popular snacks that visitors buy

Dried fish

Dried cuttlefish

Chocolates from Koi Kee

Most Macau visitors also go to the Venetian Hotel to have a glimpse of the hotel, the casino and the Venice themed hotel and mall.

The Venetian mall features an indoor canal
where visitors can ride gondolas for a fee

Tourists ride the gondola  to take photos/ videos as their
 boatman sings while he takes the group for a tour inside the mall

Artwork in the ceiling of Venetian Hotel's lobby area

Visitors often stop to take photos in front of the golden
spherical figure in the middle of the hotel's lobby area

Lots of people go to Venetian since it offers
visitors various shops to look at and a lot of
restaurant and food outlets too

During our visit the show featured at the Venetian
 theater was Beauty and the Beast the musical

Going around Macau can be done in a day depending on your itinerary but for those who would like to explore Macau more it is not a problem since there are a lot of hotels in the area where one can opt to book a room for an overnight stay. 

Macau is tourist friendly. The hotels provide free shuttle service from the Ferry station to hotel and from hotel to Ferry station several times in a day since they really encourage more visitors to come. They also accept Hong Kong Dollars as payment at the shops but the change that they give is in Macau currency. Exchanging money is easy since there are banks and money exchange shops inside the malls.

To maximize your time in Macau, it is best to go there during the morning, plan which sites you want to visit at Macau's Historic Centre and choose the boat schedule that you are comfortable with if you are heading back to Hong Kong on the same day.