Sorry
for postponed update! So here we go!
On
the second day in Macau, I spent my day walked through all the famous world
heritage spots in Macau Island area. While everyone on the net recommend the
route to be started from Senado Square to the lower area, I started my route backwards;
from down below (A Ma Temple) to upper area which is the Guia Lighthouse.
The exact route that I’ve walked in Macau Heritage Walk plan was (in order):
- A-Ma Temple
- Moorish Barracks
- Lilau Square
- St. Lawrence’s Church
- Dom Pedro Theatre, St Augustine’s Church, St Joseph’s Seminary and Church, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library (they are on the same area)
- Senado Square, Leal Senado Building, Holy House of Mercy (all same area too)
- St. Dominic’s Church
- The Cathedral
- Mount Fortress
- Ruin’s of St. Paul
- St. Anthony’s Church
- Guia Lighthouse
Since
I stayed in the middle of Taipa Island and I’m very lazy to search for the bus
route to my first destination (actually they have bus with the route that I
wanted, but again, blame the construction sites everywhere the bus stop are
nowhere to be seen!) I used taxi and it cost me around 50HKD from my hotel to
A-Ma Temple.
I
won’t talk that much about the history behind all the sites (as it was TOO MUCH
to be told), I will just focus on each place that I have visited and what’s
they look like.
First
one is A-Ma temple; the one of the oldest Taoist temple in Macau that dedicated
to Matsu, Goddess of Seafarers.
From
A-Ma temple, everything just literally GO STRAIGHT to Senado Square, which is
my temporary main aim from the temple.
Once
I found a path like this on the side of A-Ma temple,
I
just walked straight from there and the next building that I found was Moorish
Barracks; being built to accommodate Indian regiments that were being
dispatched from Goa, India. Can go enter the building but restricted only to
the lobby area.
Walk
a little bit more further from Moorish Barracks I found the Lilau Square.
Just
near the Lilau Square, is the St Lawrence’s Cathedral which built before 1580
making it one of the oldest churches of Macao. The interior was beautiful, and
the garden area was so peaceful too.
Finish
with admiring every single thing there, walked again until I found the next big
area where Dom Pedro Theatre, St Augustine’s Church, St Joseph’s Seminary and Church,
and Sir Robert Ho Tung Library gather together.
The
theatre was a little bit small but still can feel its glory presence.
Next
to the theatre building is directly the St Augustine’s Church,
and Sir
Robert Ho Tung Library.
I
didn’t literally visit the St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church as it forbids me to
enter from the back door there (see photo above) and require me to go outside
the area and turn around on the back to enter the church via main entrance(which
is quite troublesome). So I skipped that and continue walked straight from
there until I found Senado Square, finally.
Leal
Building is near the area too so I entered the place real quick before stepped
in to the Senado Area.
Across
the street was the Senado Square, which is, too bad for me, in their very awful
state in my opinion as so many Chinese new year’s decoration were present at
that time which somewhat annoys me THAT bad. I want the plain Senado Square!!
Seriously.
Disaster.
Holy
House of Mercy. Let’s skip this quick.
Walked
to the end of the Senado Square area, reached the St. Dominic’s Church.
Actually,
from here, everything was kind of in the same area and near to each other, and
there were so many markings that lead you to several next historical places whichever
would you like visit first.
I
chose to visit the Cathedral first; took photo from the yard area and directly
in front of the building itself.
I
rest a bit there as I feel that wow, the whole trip from A-Ma Temple to this
point was quite exhausting. And it was a right decision after all; because my
next decision was Mount Fortress as the next target and HOLY guacamole, the
road to the top was very steep and had quite a cardio back there!
Reached
the top! Too bad it was foggy the whole week so the vision range was not very
good. However I can see the Guia Lighthouse from here!
Anyhow,
the trip from there and on was quite relaxed. Just follow the downward stairs
from Mount Fortress lead me directly to the Ruin of St Paul; the main tourist
spot at Macau.
It
was so crowded and was quite a challenge to take a clean shot. Here was mine
(with consideration to cut the below part as to avoid people’s head). Not so
bad.
From
there just take a little bit walk to the St. Anthony’s Church before leaving
for Guia Fortress.
To
go to the Guia Fortress, I use bus directly from the bus stop super near the
church, and stop at Le Jardins du Flora. I’m very sorry that I forgot which bus
number that I took; it was the wrong bus after all.
I
thought the bus I took will take me directly to the station itself but instead
they stopped at the main terminal in the middle of the route thus I have to change
bus and pay again for the rest of the route.
Once
I arrived, I just walked right to the cable car station spot, bought the ticket
and directly went to the top of the hill. Reached the top, it took me around 15
minute more walk to reach the lighthouse.
It
was not crowded at all and wish If I had more time to spent, I can spend the
whole day dozing off there, maybe.
The
lighthouse itself was quite fascinating although there’s not much to be seen for
overall too. It
will be much more perfect if the sky is clear and the whole scenery can be
seen.
Thus Guia Lighthouse marked the finish point of my whole historical trip. From there
I catch the bus back to City of Dreams to watch the House of the Dancing Water
show which quite breathtaking too.
For
overall, the trip from A-ma Temple to Guia Lighthouse took me from 10.00 to
17.00 on one day; including around 30 minutes lunch stop and 30 minutes lost
around Senado Area to find one recommended restaurant which I finally couldn’t
find at all. Considering that I went alone and my frequency to take photos and
maybe selfies were not that time-consuming, 7 hours were just okay for me.
My
opinion is that if you go in group and wanted to do a more relaxed time to
enjoy every spot, 2 days will be perfect. 1 day is a little bit tight or so I think. But feel free to try on one day (and feel the burn on your feet!) as I feel that it was not that impossible to do too.
As a conclusion, It was a very, very fulfilling trip as I'm a very outdoor person, I haven't feel such in a better mood the whole day; as I spent mostly my days indoor on my work.
I can't wait to have this kind of trip again some other time. Gotta plan some more holiday to do!
See you on the next post!
