We went for a day trip to Macao in the beginning of the afternoon of the 2nd of February and I was really amazed by the change of atmosphere between Hong-Kong and Macao. For me (and I guess for a lot of the visitors) it can be divided in two parts:
Old city:
Macao used to be a Portuguese colony and a big part of the architecture (streets, buildings, names of the streets...) look totally like Portugal (even if I have never been to Portugal...:) ). We spent all the afternoon walking in the old city:
- the old city (Portuguese)
- the new one (casinos). It is commonly called the "Asian Las Vegas".
Old city:
Macao used to be a Portuguese colony and a big part of the architecture (streets, buildings, names of the streets...) look totally like Portugal (even if I have never been to Portugal...:) ). We spent all the afternoon walking in the old city:
- the down town: Senate Square
- small streets with colonial buildings
- Mount Fortress,
- and of course the Ruins of Saint Paul Church. Such a magnificent piece of art despite it has been destroyed by the Japanese.
Casino life:
After the Saint Paul's ruins, we went to the modern part of Macao: casinos area. The most impressive building is definitely the Grand Lisboa Hotel & Casino which looks like a flower.
Good to know: gambling is forbidden in the Mainland China. So a lot of Chinese go to Macao to try to win some money (getting rich fast is a very big ambition for the new generation of Chinese people)
All this area is surround by casinos. After visiting the Grand Lisboa Hotel and few casinos, we went for a rooftop bar (Sky 21) for a cocktail (Grigor was talking about it since I have been arrived in HK :) ). Totally worthy because from the top we had the chance to appreciate one more time the amazing firework show and the view over Macao (it is in the second part of the video in the Hong-Kong section).
By 22h we catch the last boat and we went back to Hong-Kong. We both fell asleep while waiting on the queue and then in the boat... Quite a hard day. But we kept some power for a drink later in HK :)
After the Saint Paul's ruins, we went to the modern part of Macao: casinos area. The most impressive building is definitely the Grand Lisboa Hotel & Casino which looks like a flower.
Good to know: gambling is forbidden in the Mainland China. So a lot of Chinese go to Macao to try to win some money (getting rich fast is a very big ambition for the new generation of Chinese people)
All this area is surround by casinos. After visiting the Grand Lisboa Hotel and few casinos, we went for a rooftop bar (Sky 21) for a cocktail (Grigor was talking about it since I have been arrived in HK :) ). Totally worthy because from the top we had the chance to appreciate one more time the amazing firework show and the view over Macao (it is in the second part of the video in the Hong-Kong section).
By 22h we catch the last boat and we went back to Hong-Kong. We both fell asleep while waiting on the queue and then in the boat... Quite a hard day. But we kept some power for a drink later in HK :)
