Macau is just 65km west of Hong Kong but predating that territory's colonisation by almost 300 years, Macau was the first European enclave in Asia. Macau is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) since the sovereignity of the territory returned to China in 1999.
It is a fascinating mix of cultures- a fusion of Mediterranean and Asian architecture, food, lifestyles and temepreaments. It is a city of cobbed backstreets, baroque churches, ancient stone fortresses and exotic streen names etched on typical portuguese azulejos. Four and a half centuries of Portuguese Christian rule left its mark and it consists of a single diocese, directly responsible to Rome. Other than that for the vast majority, more than 90% of Macau Chinese people. Taoism and Buddhism are the dominant religions.
From Hong Kong to Macau there is a high speed ferry which only takes 1 hour and it is very popular due to the huge number of casinos there. I have never been in Las Vegas but at least was the closest I have ever been to a similar place so getting there on a Saturday was like being on Harrod's last day of sales. We had a laugh running from the ferry to be the first ones in the queue for passports only to be overcome by a couple of old chinese. Looking behind was scary with hundreds of people trying to get there at the same time.
We used a peculiar transport to get us into town...
We visited the ruins of St Paul (see picture below) of which only the facade remains of this Jesuit church built in the early 17th century. Some consider it the greatest monument to Christianity in Asia.
The Church of St Dominic in Largo do Senado is a fine example of ecclesiastical baroque architecture replacement of a chapel built by the Dominicans in the 1590s. Macau cathedral is not particularly attractive and it replaces the original one badly damaged in a typhoon.
The A-Ma Temple, the most stunning one we have seen in the trip is dedicated to the goddess A-Ma.The original temple was probably standing when the Portuguese arrived although the present one may only date back to the 17th century.
From there we walked towards the Moorish Barracks only to discover an stunning hotel, Posada Sao Tiago so we took a break there to enjoy it.
No comments:
Post a Comment