You may treat it as ‘Things to do in Coloane’ but for me, an evening well spent.
That’s Mainland China at the other end!
Most remarkable aspect of Macau is that, the two most important islands are extremely well connected by road, to Taipa Island on the south and the southern-most island of Coloane. In fact there is so much of reclaimed land between Coloane and Taipa that a new region called Cotai (Coloane-Taipa) has been created. One can easily say that Coloane perhaps is the poorest among other Macanese regions. That does not mean it is actually poor, it is just relatively speaking. 🙂
Our first stop in Coloane, while the sunlight is in its last ebbs, is the most famous and the original creator of the Macanese egg-tart, Lord Stows Bakery. After quickly demolishing a few egg tarts we move on towards the water front on the west side. The area looks like a village with very few cars on the road. The creek is wide but the shore on the far side quite visible. That is the Chinese side and they seem to compete with Macau, albeit vainly, with lights and glitter.
All the pavements and the streets are cobble stoned and with shapes from the marine world sketched on them. We have now reached a small port called Ponte Cais de Coloane. This was one of the important ports for Chinese and Macanese to travel to each other’s countries.
It is only 7:15PM and there are hardly anybody on the streets, perhaps owing to the fact that there are no gambling dens or casinos here and most of the region is residential. Only intrepid travelers like us seem to traipse these lanes!
We reach the Eduardo Marques Square with its wavy cobbled designs, perhaps depicting the sea as this is a fishing village. A monument commemorates the victory over sea pirates ! The ubiquitous statue of Goat, depicting the year of Goat, leads us to a Chapel.
We enter the small Chapel of St. Francis Xavier (Igreja de São Francisco Xavier). I hear someone whispering to his friend that the remains of some of the Christian missionaries, executed in Japan in 1597, lie here. Looking at our distinctly touristy demeanor, we are quickly directed towards the painting of Mother Mary with Jesus who have a facial and sartorial resemblances to the Chinese. The reason apparently, is to do with facilitating conversion of the locals into Christianity by showing Mother Mary and Jesus as Chinese.
We give a miss to a couple of Tao temples as it is already getting dark. After an invigorating walk along the waterfront we get back to the car to proceed towards Miramar restaurant.
The night, however, was by no means over! 🙂
Have you played this game in your childhood? 🙂