Macau Sep.9, 2017
Portuguese atmosphere and Jesuit Churches
I headed to the ferry terminal in Sheung Wan in the rainy morning to hop on a jetfoil to Macao soon after I grabbed some dim sums at Lin Heung Kui. The small island was once a step stone for Jesuit monks to spread Christianity to East Asia. I wanted to visit the historic area of the former Portuguese colony and enjoy its exotic atmosphere somedays. I was visiting Hong Kong to attend a business meeting and leaving for Tokyo the next day. I have no plan to do on Saturday. It could be a trip of one hour or so from Sheung Wan. So I decided to go to Macau.
The high speed ferry leaves every fifteen minutes and connects Hong Kong and Macau in an hour. The ferry was full of passengers. I guess many of them are going to spend the weekend at casino. There was the passport control at the Macau terminal. But they would not ask any question, just check the passport and collect a immigration card from passengers. I realized Macao is now a part of China and no need for passport control between the two former colonies.
I rode a public bus to Sedona Square, where you can start sightseeing as many points of attractions are within the walking distance from there. I found a building with Portuguese azulejo tiles. The blue colored tiles look cool sunder the sunshine of early September. I found a lot of reminiscent of the former colonial master here and there. There are a lot of Roman Christian churches in the island: Saint Dominic’s Church, St. Lawrence’s Church, Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady to name a few.
Clouds hung low in the sky. It looked it was going to rain anytime soon. I started to walk around the area near Sedona Square and visited those churches. I was so impressed with those beautiful churches. I started with Saint Domingo’s Church and then visited Saint Josef Church and St. Lourenco Church. I saw statue of Jesus carrying the cross and many beautiful statues of the Virgin Mary at St.Domingo Church. I walked toward the St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church. I visited Cathedral of the Nativity of Our Lady. The appearance of the church is very plain. I never thought it is a Cathedral and I would have passed through without knowing. Inside it was quiet. I saw a lot of Maria’s statues. On my way, I stopped by The Sir Robert Ho Tung Library in St Augustine’s square. The building was a retreat of a Hong Kong business tycoon until it was donated to the Macau government for conversion to a public library according to his will in 1955. It houses ancient books, works of literature, history, philosophy, art and architecture in the western-style garden. The collection covers wide variety of topics and holds some 100,000 books. The garden is beautiful and quiet. I wish I could spend time reading books in a setting like this library. The library is the main library system in the city now. I stopped by The Dom Pedro V Theatre for a short time. The theater was built in 1860 by local Portuguese to celebrate the reining of King Peter V. It is the landmark in the area and used for public event. Now it is one of the world heritages. I finally arrived at the St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church. The Seminary was built in 1728 and the church was erected in 1758. Originally they were Jesuit’s mission. When I was there, it started to rain heavily. So I stayed about an hour inside to avoid rain. I spend time at the museum in the church till rain stopped. I stopped by the St. Lawrence’s Church as my last stop.
