The Church of Sto. Domingo is one of the most beautiful churches in Macau. You will not miss this yellow and green building as you walk from Leal Senado plaza to the ruins of St Paul’s.Sto. Domingo is a baroque Filipino style church built by…Read More

The Church of Sto. Domingo is one of the most beautiful churches in Macau. You will not miss this yellow and green building as you walk from Leal Senado plaza to the ruins of St Paul’s.

Sto. Domingo is a baroque Filipino style church built by the Spanish Dominican friars from Acapulco, Mexico in the mid 16th century. They also built a monastery next to the church which does not exist anymore. The plaza in front of the church used to be a marketplace. Originally built in wood, Sto. Domingo was finally rebuilt in stone in the year 1828. The basic layout is influenced by both Portuguese and Spanish styles. On the facade of Sto. Domingo is the emblem of the Domincan Order.

Don’t walk past without going inside. The Dominicans are well known for their love of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is not surprising therefore to have an image of the Madonna and Child in the altar piece. Above is the seal of Sto. Domingo painted on the ceiling. You can find this seal all over the place. Even some of the church vessels and instruments carry it. There is a bier dating from 1683. There are also some beautiful statutes of St. Caetano, St. Francis and St. Dominic. They have carved ivory heads.

The nave has two wide side aisles. The flooring is of ceramic mosaic tiles with floral decorations. The wooden roof is beautifully carved with ventilation lattices. There is a wooden balcony running along the upper sections of the side walls. The choir loft is above the main doors and from there you can overlook the plaza in front of the church.

The church is also historic because it was where here that the first Portuguese newspaper, A Abelha da China (The China Bee), was published on Chinese soil in 1822.

There is a small museum of sacred art in the bell tower at the back of the building with about 300 items on display.
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Tel: 8399 6699 (fortress); 2835 7911 (Museum).Mount Fortress, built in 1617-26, occupies a hilltop to the east of the ruins of St. Paul′ s. It was constructed by the Jesuits as part of a complex which also included the college and church of St. Paul′…Read More

Tel: 8399 6699 (fortress); 2835 7911 (Museum).

Mount Fortress, built in 1617-26, occupies a hilltop to the east of the ruins of St. Paul′ s. It was constructed by the Jesuits as part of a complex which also included the college and church of St. Paul′ s. The canons were used only once, when the Dutch invaded Macau in 1622. This was also the first residence of the governors of Macau.

At that time, besides the cannons, Mount Fortress also included military barracks, munitions warehouse and supply depots. It was the primary defence centre along the eastern and western coastline in Macau. In the centre of the top platform, there was a 3-storey tower fitted with cannons on each floor. There were four rows of houses that served as military barracks close by. The Fortress was also equipped with wells and an arsenal that held sufficient ammunition and supplies to survive a siege lasting up to two years.

The walls are built on 3.7 metre wide granite bases. They are made of solid rammed earth, further strengthened by a thick stucco of ground oyster shells. The parapet sections were crenulated for the installation of 32 cannons and the two corners of the south-east wall have watchtowers. The north-western and south-western granite walls facing the Chinese mainland do not have any battlements, indicating that the fortress was built only for defence against attacks from the sea.

The site used to be a restricted military facility until around 1965 when the barracks were converted into a weather observatory. Over the following decades trees grew from the platform of the fort, which was transformed into a public park where residents and visitors came to enjoy the views. In 1996, the meteorological services moved their operations to Taipa Island. The fort ramparts and walls were restored in 1992, 1993 and 1996.

Macau Museum was built into the side of Mount Fortress in 1998. It occupies an extensive area and is divided into two parts, namely the Museum Building and the Administrative Office. The Museum Building has three floors. Within the museum, introductions about the origins of Macau can be found, as well as information on holidays, folk art, living art mixed with the Chinese and the Portuguese, as well as the situation after the handover. There are also some very nice models of typical Chinese and Western style buildings. The administrative office contains a gift and souvenir shop.

Although the Museum does not possess a collection of a high monetary value, it includes a vast number of objects of a great historical value which have been carefully chosen and are appealingly exhibited.


Museum Opening hours: From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Closed Mondays. Open public holidays.
Tickets: children (under 11), elderly people (over 60) and students - 8 patacas; adults - 15 patacas,
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As a resident of the Bay Area in California, we frequent Las Vegas on the weekends. The clanging of the slot machines, the scantily clad cocktail waitresses, and long buffet lines were not to be found anywhere here in Macau. Over the past two years, Macau…Read More

As a resident of the Bay Area in California, we frequent Las Vegas on the weekends. The clanging of the slot machines, the scantily clad cocktail waitresses, and long buffet lines were not to be found anywhere here in Macau. Over the past two years, Macau has changed quite drastically since the lifting of the monopoly on the casinos and allowing foreign investors to build their own. The Sands and the Wynn have been the newest foreign addition. The Venetian is set to open in late 2007.

We took a stroll through the Wynn hotel, a smaller version of the Las Vegas with its own dancing fountains out front featuring a miniature show similar to the Bellagio in Vegas. In the casinos in Macau, the gambling section is separated from the rest of the hotel by security checkpoints. They aren't as sensitive as the ones in the airport so there is no need to remove shoes, belts, and empty pockets. A quick bag check will suffice. There are no slot machines that make the typical noises that fill the air of Vegas casinos. The well endowed Vegas cocktail waitresses ready to take your drink order are replaced with older fully clothed and covered women pushing carts with free bottled water, ice tea, and milk tea. Asian people don't really drink much. They are there just to do business: Gamble. The flavor of games is also quite different. They have single zero roulette. Baccarat is also very popular. A dice game called Sic-Bo involving three dice is also quite the draw. As hard as we looked, there was no Texas Hold'em Poker to be found. . . anywhere.

They clearly don't have ESPN. Some games have a virtual dealer with several computer stations where each gambler can sit and bet at their leisure. Both Hong Kong and Macau have also made a conscious effort to make public places non-smoking. In some casinos, they have a non-smoking gambling area. Half a dozen new casinos are planned to be built in the next two years near the new fishermans' wharf area. The buffet craze hasn't caught on either. Some casinos have a semi-buffet which include a salad bar, a selection of a main entrée from three choices and a dessert. The Wynn has a toned down version of their Vegas buffet in Café Esplanada.

Sail Away! Catching a ferry from Hong Kong is quite easy. TurboJet operates hydrofoils every 15-30 minutes, 7 days a week and offers trips less frequently into the wee hours of the morning up to 6am (www.www.turbojet.com.hk).  We left from the Ferry Terminal in Central.…Read More

Sail Away!
Catching a ferry from Hong Kong is quite easy. TurboJet operates hydrofoils every 15-30 minutes, 7 days a week and offers trips less frequently into the wee hours of the morning up to 6am (www.www.turbojet.com.hk).  We left from the Ferry Terminal in Central. However, you can catch a ferry from the Kowloon side to Macau in Tsim Sha Tsui. Take the MTR to Sheung Wan, the west most point on the blue line in Hong Kong. Go up to the third floor of the Shun Tak Centre to the ticket window to the left. You do not need to purchase the tickets in advance. On the weekends and during holidays it will get quite crowded so you might want to buy a round trip ticket. It won't save you any money just time.

Tickets come in Economy and First class HK$142/$244 each way. First class tickets sit on the seats on the upper deck and are allowed to disembark first. You can purchase a ticket and if you are early you can try to make it on standby for earlier trips if you wish. Day tickets are cheaper than evening (after 5:30pm) tickets. Weekday tickets are cheaper than weekend tickets. Make sure you give yourself enough time to also pass through immigration before boarding. You will go through customs twice: leaving Hong Kong, and entering Macau. 10-15 minutes before your sailing time, there will be a line by the gate for you to get your reserved seat number in the form of a little sticker they place on your ticket. If you are traveling in a party and wish to sit together then, I suggest you send one person to get your assigned seats.

The trip takes about 1 hour. There is a TV screen showing either some advertisements or some TV show (America's funniest pets). They sell drinks, sandwiches, ramen noodle, and other snacks on the short one hour flight. If you are prone to sea sick you may want to take some medication as the boat gets a bit rocky.

Two things that you must try while you are here:1) Portuguese Egg Tart - This is very similar to the egg tart found in Hong Kong in the bakeries and at dim sum except for one difference, they have swirls of black on them from…Read More

Two things that you must try while you are here:

1) Portuguese Egg Tart - This is very similar to the egg tart found in Hong Kong in the bakeries and at dim sum except for one difference, they have swirls of black on them from the brown sugar that has caramelized on the top. Most street vendors will sell them for around MOP$6 - $6.50. Portuguese bakeries sell them at higher prices MOP$10 and are not as fresh.

2) Pork Chop Bun - indigenous to Macau, this is a great snack item found in the street vendors for about MOP$10. It's just a steamed bun with a few slices of a seasoned pork slices and less of a chop.

Other food items:
Soft Peanut Brittle with saltine crackers MOP$3. This old man was selling it out of a cart in the Senate Square. It was a stick with a peanut flavored melted sugar sandwiched in between two crackers. It was quite yummy.

While walking along the streets, there are always old ladies trying to get you to sample the items in their store, especially the many flavors of beek jerky. Feel free to sample it's perfectly safe, but the women are a bit persistent. -   Close

Macau is such a colorful place. It is full of arts, history, and sights. By day it reveals the Portuguese-inspired buildings as well as traces of Chinese heritage through its temples. Senate Square is a place that marries the old and the new with its…Read More

Macau is such a colorful place. It is full of arts, history, and sights. By day it reveals the Portuguese-inspired buildings as well as traces of Chinese heritage through its temples. Senate Square is a place that marries the old and the new with its old churches and buildings as well as branded shops that speak of a globalized world. At night, the Leal Senado lights up revealing a glorious landscape. In one of those streets, we passed by a vendor and tried their street foods. They're the best ever! There's this giant green chili filled with some flour and local flavorings. It was totally unique, awesome, and adventurous.   Close

Though there is a brand new international airport in Macau, most people arrive in Hong Kong and take a side trip to Macau. There are jetfoils, the fastest mode of transport to Macau taking just under one hour. The pier to leave from is the…Read More

Though there is a brand new international airport in Macau, most people arrive in Hong Kong and take a side trip to Macau. There are jetfoils, the fastest mode of transport to Macau taking just under one hour. The pier to leave from is the Shun Tak Centre at 200 Connaught Road in Hong Kong. This is a modern, multi-story building reachable by bus, taxi and subway (MTR stop is on the other side of Connaught Road, but follow signs through the underground foot path tunnel towards the terminal.)   Close

u know Cirque du Soleil has got a show on stage in Macau. It is an interesting city n is known as the Las Vegas in Asia, and used to be a Portuguese enclave. So don’t be impressed with the massive Portuguese architectures there.…Read More

u know Cirque du Soleil has got a show on stage in Macau. It is an interesting city n is known as the Las Vegas in Asia, and used to be a Portuguese enclave. So don’t be impressed with the massive Portuguese architectures there. BTW, I’d like to introduce an attractive package if you’re interested in Macau. It includes round trip flight tix, hotels plus the Cirque ticket, saving up to 30%! Here you’re: http://www.macau.com/mc/packages/magical_value/en.html   Close

Nowadays, many travel companies introduce reasonable packages to bush sales. I saw one on www.macau.com, 3D 2N package with round-trip flights SYDMFM and Cirque du Solei show ticket. Only cost $855.I once watched Alegria, one of Cirque du Solei show in Sydney. It is amazing!…Read More

Nowadays, many travel companies introduce reasonable packages to bush sales. I saw one on www.macau.com, 3D 2N package with round-trip flights SYDMFM and Cirque du Solei show ticket. Only cost $855.

I once watched Alegria, one of Cirque du Solei show in Sydney. It is amazing! This time the show is called Zaia, I looking forward to it!   Close