The Venetian Macao

The Venetian Macao is huge. It is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia and the largest casino in the world. It has the usual casino amenities but what sets it apart from the rest is the Venice-inspired part of the building where visitors can ride a gondola around the San Luca canal while the gondolier sings.

But first we needed to get some lunch. We went to the Venetian's food court and ordered some Hainanese chicken which was great and this beef soup that was so hot even for us Bicolanas, it practically burned our tongues!

Good thing we had plenty of water to wash it down, but our Mama was just floored by how ridiculously hot it was. So my sister Maris and I just shared our food with her because that soup was just unbearable.

We walked around and found the Venice side of the building. Hmmm that ceiling was really cool. It looked like real clouds up there. A gondola passed by and the song the gondolier was singing was "Dahil Sa Yo" a Filipino love song. It's true then, you can find Filipino workers everywhere!

                       
The ornate ceiling fascinated me--truly, casinos go for this kind of thing--the flashier the better. The golden orb in the lobby was no slouch either and we enjoyed the opulence of the place by posing for seemingly endless photos. The human statues in the hallways were pretty good too, but it must be a tough job. I hope they get to keep the money thrown at them at the end of their shifts.

It was a shock to step out of the building and see how bright and sunny (& hot!) it actually was. That virtual cloud really had as fooled for a while.

Ruins of Saint Paul's, Macau

The Ruins of St. Paul's is the facade of what was once the Cathedral of Saint Paul built by the Jesuits in the 16th century and was ravaged by fire in 1835. It is Macau's most recognizable attraction and is probably the place to visit when one finds oneself in this former Portuguese colony.

It is part of the Historic Center of Macau listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites since 2005. It is quite impressive, though the swarm of people all trying to get up close and personal with the ruins is kind of off-putting. I would have loved to have taken a picture without the sea of tourists milling about.

     

But I can't begrudge the dear old thing its success. It's truly a wonderful place to visit, the crowd notwithstanding. It's weird to see clothes hanging in the breeze from the adjacent buildings though, not something you would expect to see so close to an iconic heritage site.

My mom and sister were too tired to hike up the steps so we just took pictures at the bottom of the stairs and sat in front of a nearby store to eat our Portuguese egg tarts and smoked pork fillets. Those Macanese treats were good!

Senado Square (Largo do Senado), Macau

Senado Square has been Macau’s city center for hundreds of years, a part of the “Historic Center of Macau”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Surrounded by neo-classical buildings built by the Portuguese colonizers, this place is really something to see.

I’m a bit of a history buff. I’ve always loved old buildings, especially centuries-old churches. It must be the small percentage of Spanish-Portuguese blood in me (inherited from my maternal grandmother’s frisky friar grandfather). Indeed I was happy as a clam just roaming around this square, appreciating the intricate artistry in the building of this site.

I also loved the Portuguese pavement stretching through the rest of the plaza. I got a little bit dizzy staring too long at the wave-like patterns of the carefully laid out stones.

I spent some time just admiring the paved sidewalks on the way here and it was impressive to see, though apparently really hard to build. They say it’s a hazard to pedestrians when wet, but it’s undeniably pretty. Now I want to visit Portugal to see the mother of all pavements there!

We walked by the Holy House of Mercy, Leal Senado and spent some time admiring the interior of St. Dominic’s Church, founded in 1587 by Spanish Dominican priests. It makes this church 20 years older than Manila’s San Agustin Church! I’m totally blown away.

                     

Senado Square is not just a place to gawk at historic buildings it’s also a place for shopping and dining. We had great fun buying shirts and souvenirs but what takes the cake is the food. Rice cookies, pork/beef fillets (I loved the hot and garlic ones) and the best of them all, the Portuguese Egg Tart from Koi Kei Bakery. They were giving out samples too so we were stuffing our faces while waiting for our purchases, yum!