Advertisement
Published: August 3rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
St. Francis Illuminated
A beautiful church in the old town of Macau. Day 4
The circular fountain was centered in the plaza that lay at the end of a cobblestone street, lined on both sides by colorful buildings that once housed various Portugese businesses but today are occupied by shops like Haagen Dazs and the Body Shop. Macau has a distinctly old world, European feel at its core and for the day, I felt like I'd left Asia and could have been roaming the streets of 18th century Lisbon. We tried to spend our time seeing the old town rather than the glitz of the casinos and Gucci windows that greet you when you arrive via ferry. So begins our day in Macau...
We woke up early to catch the ferry and it couldn't have been easier. There was no need to buy our tickets in advance and the high speed ferries ran frequently. We made it to Macau in less than 2 hours and immediately hopped a taxi to the center of town where the remains of the old Portugese colony could still be seen. Along the way, we passed many flashy neon signs that could have rivaled those in Vegas (some of them are the same, ahem, the Wynn...)
and saw the Chanel, Gucci, Burberry, and Dior shops that seem to accompany all casinos the world over. These were all nestled along the waterfront and as soon as we turned inland, we started to get a more authentic look at the city. Within 15 minutes we were at the town center, marked of course, with a plaza replete with a beautiful fountain and cobblestones. It couldn't have been any more different from the "Strip" we'd passed minutes before.
The buildings were gorgeous! Pinks and yellows, chapels and cathedrals, cobblestones and fountains, traditional Macau fare or McDonald's, the old town had it all! We immediately decided to beat the heat (it was easily 80 degrees!) and try some of the local cuisine. Upon settling into the closest restaurant with an appetizing menu, we were confronted with the reality that while in Hong Kong you can easily get by with English, in Macau it was a whole different ballgame. Not only was English not spoken, it was not understood. Luckily we'd found a place with a picture menu so we were able to point to what it was that we wanted, though honestly I think our waitress was still a
bit confused. Anyway, I ordered a claypot dish which, as the name implies, is cooked and served in a really hot clay bowl. I had Chinese broccoli and pork (similar to the rib tips minus the whole BBQ thing) over rice and it was delicious! Afterwards, we decided to check out St. Francis, a beautiful, old, yellow church with palm trees on either side, that commands its own plaza. On the inside the wooden shutters were opened to let the breeze in and there were fans going to keep the visitors cool. What I found most unusual about this church was that there was no crucifix at the altar as is typical in a Catholic church. Instead there was a sculpture of the Virgin Mary cradling a baby Jesus. The crucifix was in an alcove off on the side of the church. I much prefer this arrangement to the usual altar display.
We followed the cobblestone street to another, smaller plaza than the one we first encountered. This was conveniently located adjacent to the Cathedral, which after seeing the splendid St. Francis, was a let down. It was big, stone colored, and otherwise unremarkable and the two of us
had more fun posing for self-portraits in the square and drawing amused looks from locals. A few snapshots later we were off to find the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral formerly known as Mater Dei. You can see the silhouette presiding over the old town from a fair distance. I'll say this: despite the heat and the fact that we passed both a smoothie shop and a Haagen Dazs, we continued without stopping to see the magnificence of the ruins up-close. That's how beautiful the ruins were...I walked right passed ICE CREAM...on a sweltering day...that's saying something!
People posed for pictures on the steps leading up to the old facade which made it difficult to get a clean shot of the place. Around the back side, they've erected a permanant scaffolding so visitors can climb to the upper windows and look out over the old town. It was a really nice view, though not the nicest we found during our stay. After taking in the beauty of St. Paul's, we walked through the adjacent fort and posed with the canons that overlooked the city. As the day came to a boil (it was sooooo hot and extremely humid!) we
wandered through the back streets, picking up some rolls with a strange ham filling, for snacks and finally found ourselves at a park. All the benches were lined with old men waiting out the midday heat under giant, vine-draped trees. We did the same for a bit then wandered deeper into the park where we saw a traditional band performing and played on the excericse machines...never a dull moment! Of course, as luck would have it the old East India Trading Co. building, that has long been maintained as a museum, was right next to the park so our next destination was chosen for us. The white building with the pink trim seemed like something out of a novel. There were large green slatted shutters that opened from the bottom and moved outward so as to form an "A shape. There was a pond in front with turtles and koi, and palm trees framed the building itself. Inside there were antiques, mostly china, my favorite being something that resembled a gravy boat from the Qing dynasty in China. The curator mistook my amusement for expertise and offered to show me the side room which was closed to visitors. I played
Right Out of a Novel...
Former East India Trading Co. office. along and after he quickly checked the museum for other guests, he unlocked the side room and we were shown in. I had to admire the vases and such but what I really liked was seeing the room itself. It looked like a drawing room or parlor and since the building was originally a residence before being purchased by the trading company, I think it very probably was. The whole place oozed British imperialism and I couldn't help but love it! As I said before, it was right out of a novel.
The cemetery and chapel nearby made for some good pictures and a respite from the sun because there were many mossy trees to provide shade and it felt nice to finally feel a breeze blow through the city. Everything we'd seen had been nice but the gritty side of Macau had yet to be exposed. We decided our best bet would be to hail a taxi over to the neon lights of the casinos. Unfortunately, this was a half-baked plan because once we got there, we realized that we didn't want to actually gamble, buy Gucci bags, or eat $100 dinners and so the closest we got
to the underbelly of Macau was on the walk back towards the old town, when we wandered along 2 blocks of a street designated as the red-light district. After a quick dinner, we enjoyed the warm evening and strolled along the cobblestones as the sky darkened, before finally making our way back to the ferry headed to Kowloon.
The next morning we said "So long!" to the Chungking mansions and savored our last Starbucks breakfast. Just as easily as we had made our way into the city, we made our way out. The double-decker bus pulled up and we hopped on, a little wiser, a bit queasy (inexplicably), and a great deal happier having made the most of our long, girls only, getaway!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.108s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0688s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
yong geun
non-member comment
so amazing!
I envy you!! you have so many visiting of asian countries...just during one year of staying korea. macao is so great.....