Today, Libby slept in until nearly 9am, and we spent a leisurely morning at the hotel. This worked out well as the morning was overcast and a bit drizzly (on what’s been an otherwise dry trip). After lunch, we went out exploring more of the historic center of Macau. We’d contemplated going over to the Cotai Strip, which is home to many of the resort casinos. But, really… why would we bother with that? If we were interested, there’s plenty of gaming, fine dining, and high-end retail right here.
No, ‘old Macau’ is more for us.
We happily passed a number of hours meandering through the narrow streets of the city to find churches, theatres, libraries, and homes. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, many of the more modern apartment / condo buildings are fairly charmless. Yet, amongst them, you find cheerful squares or vibrant streets that are uniquely Macanese. Here are some examples:
We also stopped at Margaret’s Café e Nata for some delightful Portuguese egg (custard) tarts. A few years ago, we first encountered these delightful tarts during our visit to Lisbon. We had them from the shop in Belem that’s been making them for over 175 years. Margaret’s version was very respectable… perhaps a little less sweet and little more “eggy,” if my taste memory serves correctly.
Tomorrow, we return to Hong Kong in the morning. At Libby’s pleading / urging, we’ll be paying a visit to the Hong Kong Disneyland, which has the benefit of being en route to our hotel near the airport and offers luggage storage. I’m not sure it’s really a great use of our time, but I suspect it will be interesting to compare/contrast it to its American counterpart back home.
Well hello, stranger! Oh wait, maybe I’m the stranger since I’ve been “out of town” for so long? Anyway, I’m excited to read about your trip! I have a friend who just spent 10 weeks visiting southeast Asia so I feel like, between the two of you, I’m getting quite an education.
And I’m with Libby on Hong Kong Disney…I’m sure you’re right, but it’s Disney man…how can you not go?
Glad to hear you’re having a good time!