Macau Travel Diary Day 3: A real Portuguese Feeling!

For today we planned sightseeing and exploring the portuguese heritage of Macau. To have an original start into the day, we enjoyed our breakfast at the small Cathedral Café close to the Senator Square.

Surprisingly our trip to the historic city was not that easy, because after leaving the bus shuttle we were quickly stuck in a human traffic jam. By now we can laugh about that really weird situation. But getting stuck amidst hundreds of Chinese people with no moving back or forth possible can be tough. Unbelievable how many tourists Macau attracts at the weekends.

From the Senator Place, which could also be situated in Portugal due to its original architecture, we strolled through the shopping streets up to the infamous ruins of St. Pauls. This historic cathedral was built by jesuits around 1600. Nowadays only the front facade is left, which still looks great.

Just a few steps east from St. Pauls you can climb Monte Fort. This ancient fort was as well built by portuguese Jesuits around 1600 and offers great views around the city of Macau due to its situation on a hill. Several canons on top remind you of portuguese settlers defending Macau from the Dutch in 1622.

Heading further east from there, we quickly reached the lighthouse, which was built in 1884 on the highest elevation of Macau. It is surrounded by the park Guia, obviously a popular destination for fitness enthusiast. The lighthouse features stunning views, especially during sunsets.

We finished our tour with a quick peek into the hotels and casinos of MGM and Wynn and were astonished by their impressive and luxurious facilities. By the way – we called the neighborhood “china town” because it looks exactly as you would imagine a chinese dominated district 😉

Heading back to our hotel, we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Yakitori Tabuchi. This is a real tip for all lovers of authentic Japanese cuisine.

In the next days we will try to further get to know the Chinese culture. The Portuguese and Chinese culture coming together at this place is an interesting thing to discover.

In cooperation with macau government tourist office

This post is also available in German