Trip Young & Dangerous (HK, Macau & Shenzhen) : Day 2 - Macau Day Trip (The Ruins of St.Paul's)

vii) Ruins of St Paul's

Still at Senado Square, I continued from my last post where after about 10 minutes walk down the street, we reached the Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral.

Arguably Macau’s most famous landmark, the Ruins of St. Paul’s was officially listed in 2005 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, the Historic Center of Macau. Originally built in the 16th century, the complex of St. Paul’s College and the Cathedral of St. Paul burned down and was rebuilt multiple times before the third and final fire during a typhoon in 1835 left it beyond repair. All that remains are the iconic stone facade and the grand staircase leading up to it.

Admission Fee :
Admission to the museum is free every day between the hours of 9 am and 6 pm.

Sitting atop sixty six granite stairs, the Ruins of St Paul Cathedral is probably the most crowded place in Macau. There were really A LOT of tourists taking photos on the long staircase. It wasn’t easy to take photos without including some random people in the frame.

See, it's very hard to take photo without being "Photobomb"ed

The crowds started from the bottom of the stairs up to the ruins... Bertabahla yer


The facade is 27 meters tall, 23.5 meters wide and 2.7 meters thick. The top floor is a triangle lintel under a cross; in the middle of the lintel is a copper dove. The dove is surrounded by the sun, moon, and stars. There is a statue of the baby Jesus Christ with the tools that were used to nail him to the cross. The major figures portrayed in the lintel are the Virgin Mary, the Holy Father, some Holy Saints, and Jesus Christ. The middle two floors reflect missionary endeavour.

Details of the facade.

Judging from the facade, the original church must have been huge during its heyday.


We went to the back area of the ruins which restored into a museum. The facade is buttressed from behind, allowing tourists to climb up to the windows to get a closer look at the stone carvings and to enjoy a panoramic view of the city below.

Paul's Cathedral was destroyed by a fire during a typhoon in 1835 and only the front wall, facade and granite stairs of the church remains..

Back wall of the facade.


As the ruins located on a hill site, it offers a good view of the city. Can see the Grand Lisboa clearly from here.

Grand Lisboa close up.


Being one of the major tourist attraction in Macau, the Ruins of St Paul is undoubtedly a must-visit.

Our camera was almost out of battery resulting this poor quality of photo. Banyak "entiti" hehehehe

Looking from the front side, people might think it is a one complete building while it is actually only one wall remains.

Martial art pose. Mcm2 gaya.

Closer photo. Look at the details. Impressive!

Another attempt to take photo in front of the facade.


Most people come to Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul in the day time for the photo ops, but coming here during the night has some benefits. For one, it isn’t crowded. During the summer you can’t even squeeze through the throngs. Secondly, the weather will be more pleasant at night. Imagine with the crowds and hot weather... one might faint with such conditions. Third is a bonus where the lighting is very beautiful at night.

The city already illuminated with lights. Grand Lisboa lighting looks like a fireworks!


I recommended you to come here in the evening to experience both day time and night view like we did!

Managed to ask help from people there to take our photo together.

Like I mentioned, camera's battery was weak. Semakin banyak "entiti" appeared :P


It's almost 7pm so we started to make a move back to the Ferry Terminal as our ticket's back to Hong Kong was at 8.00pm. We went down the staircase and back to the alley of shops.

Arch of love


Walked down the lane back to Senado Square.

What a nice place to hang out with families and friends.


The Holy House of Mercy of Macau (Portuguese: Santa Casa da Misericórdia,) is a historic building in Senado Square. Established as a branch of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia, it was first built in 1569 on the orders of the Bishop of Macau as a medical clinic and several other social welfare structures in early Macau. It later served as an orphanage and refuge for widows of sailors lost at sea.

Now, Santa Casa da Misericórdia is also part of the Historic Centre of Macau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Finally we reached the main road at Grand Lisboa where we needed to find shuttle bus back to Ferry Terminal.

Read my final chapter on Trip to Macau on next post. Bye.....


Trip to HK, Macau and Shenzhen Fast Link Here
Preparation
Day 0 – Departure to Hong Kong and First Night at Chungking Mansion
Day 1 – Star Ferry Ride from Kowloon to HK Island
Day 1 – HKCEC and Golden Bauhinia Square
Day 1 – Repulse Bay and Stanley Village
Day 1 – Lunch at Islamic Muslim Centre, Ammar Mosque and Tram Ride
Day 1 – The Mid Level Escalator
Day 1 – The Peak Tram and Night at Victoria Peak (Sky Terrace 428)
Day 1 – End of Day 1

MACAU Day Trip
Day 2 – Journey to Macau by TurboJET Ferry
Day 2 – The Venetian, Macao
Day 2 – City Of Dreams and Hard Rock Hotel
Day 2 – The Galaxy Macau
Day 2 – Grand Lisboa and Senado Square
Day 2 – Macau back to Hong Kong

Shenzhen Day Trip
Day 3 – Starting Journey to Shenzhen, China from Hong Kong
Day 3 – Window of The World
Day 3 – Shopping at Shenzhen and back to Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trip Continues
Day 4 – Ngong Ping 360, Lantau Island
Day 4 – Aberdeen Floating Village and Jumbo Kingdom
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 1
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 2
Day 5 – Disneyland Part 3
Day 5 – Shopping at Ladies Market, Mongkok
Last Day – Avenue of Star
Last Day – HK Museums, 1881 Heritage and Back to Malaysia
Total Expenses