“We took a one-day excursion from Hong Kong to Macau. We didn’t regret at all, through two days would already have been too much. We weren’t blown away by Macao, but it was a really interesting place, and totally different to Hong Kong. The world of casinos is foreign to me; I preferred the monuments from the period when it was a Portuguese colony – they were fascinating.” (aji, 2016)
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“We took a walk along the ‘typical’ tourist route, starting from the fort, then downhill to the ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral, then on to St Dominic’s Church. From there we walked to Senate Square, then wandered through the narrow streets until we arrived in front of the St. Augustine church and the Dom Pedro V Theater, with the church of São Lourenço just to the right.
After a quick break on charming Lilau Square, we walked on to the temple to Mazu, the Chinese god of the sea.
From here we took a bus to the modern casino district, where we found mammoth hotels with built-in casinos as in Las Vegas, and usually with the same themes (Disney, Caesar’s Palace, etc.)
Of course, there are (still) fewer casinos here than in Vegas, the world’s gambling capital. As in Las Vegas, everything is as kitsch as can be, with buildings designed like wedding cakes. Everywhere there are over-the-top, baroque interiors, fake marble statues with fake gold hair. After a while the brain just shuts it all out – of course, the whole thing is a confected, plasterboard Potemkin stage-set.
The dimensions take some getting used to – only after you’ve walked for a while do you get a true sense of the scale of the buildings. They don’t look so big at first, because they’re set back far from the street front, and the avenue between them is wide.
Of course, just like Vegas, they have an Eiffel Tower here, which means I’ve see (all?) three. We walked through the Venetian and Parisian casinos, admired the interior décor, and even peeked into the gambling hall.” (2019)
