I’ve surprised people when I told them that I enjoyed visiting Macau on numerous occasions, but that I don’t gamble. Macau is now the world’s largest gambling mecca, and its cultural heritage has taken a backseat to the casinos. Don’t get me wrong, the architecture of some of the casinos is exquisite — especially the Casino Lisboa when it’s lit up at night.
On my first trip through Macau, I crossed over through Zhuhai (yes, you have to get your passport stamped when exiting mainland China and entering a Special Administrative Region like Macau and Hong Kong) and headed out to find the cultural wonders.
The main cultural destination in this former Portuguese colony is the ruins of St. Paul’s. What remains of this 17th century Catholic church is the facade. Two other churches stood on this site, but were destroyed by fires. It wasn’t rebuilt after the third fire in 1835.
