Lutong Macau
October 29, 2006 | 12:00am
14. From Coloane, we motored to Taipa Island for more explorational walking. Starting at the Taipa Houses Museum, on the old praia waterfront, where a row of five restored heritage houses sit amid a canopy of century old acacia trees. They were built in 1921 by high government officials and Macanese families to live in. In the 1980s, the Macau government acquired and fully restored them. They are now used as museums with different themes: Macanese House, House of the Islands, Portuguese Regions House, Exhibition Gallery, while the fifth house is used for receptions, where a restaurant is installed and just opposite is an open-air amphitheather for concert performances and plays. Past the row of houses, we walked up the steps to Our Lady of Carmo Church, a pastel and white neo-classical church built in 1885. Going down on Calçada de Quartel (named after the former military fort you’d see on the hilltop, now housing the police academy), we crossed Rua Correira da Silva leading to Rua de Cunha, popularly known as Food Street because of the many food stores and restaurants serving Portuguese, Macanese, Indian and different kinds of Chinese food.
15. After that morning walk, a hefty sumptuous lunch awaited us at the Plaza Chinese Restaurant consisting of excellent assorted dim sum, soy chicken and roast char siew pork, Peking duck, wintermelon soup with seafood, sweet and sour fish, spinach with salted and century eggs, a yin-yang sweetish shrimp, salty fish maw dish topped on rice, deep-fried crab claws, and fresh fruit platter for dessert. (Thank God!) (Xin Hua Bldg., Rua de Nagasaki. Call 853-706-623.)
16. In the afternoon, we rode up to Guia Hill where the Chapel of Our Lady of Guia and the Lighthouse stand. Here we had our first serious session of sketching and met the press for interview. The chapel was first built in the early 17th century as part of the Guia Fortress and the present structure dates from 1637 originally established by the Clarist nuns. During the Dutch invasion of 1622, legend has it that the image of the Virgin left the chapel and held out her robe to deflect the enemy’s bullets. The Guia Lighthouse was the first modern lighthouse built on the China Coast built in 1865. (Operating hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Mondays, except public holidays. Free Admission. Call 853-870-277.)
17. On the third day, we went out on our own to explore the Red Market. Above is a fishmonger selling bivalves on the half-shell like oysters, scallops, clams and mussels. The market is named after its red brick structure built in a 1930s Art Deco style. It is one of Macau’s busiest market, with three spacious floors each dedicated to fresh meat and poultry, seafood, and vegetables and fruits, and a vast array of Chinese condiments, sauces, dried and canned goods from the mainland. Noteworthy are the Chinese sausages and salted-dried duck selling at a much lower price than in Hong Kong. Just across the Ave. Horta e Costa is Rua do Robando, a narrow pedestrian lane lined with stalls selling fresh produce, ready-cooked food, and dry goods and clothing. (Located on the corner of Ave. Horta e Costa and Almirante Lacerda.)
18. Another lunch of Portuguese fare was at Restaurante Platao, just across Ou Mun, entering past a gelateria on Travessa Sao Domingos. We had a duck stew (much like our dinuguan), oxtail curry, Portugese fried rice, broccoli with bacon, grilled codfish and sole. Filipino waiter Alan Cortez (from Quezon province) assisted us with the ordering. Call 853-712-221 for inquiries.
19. A short walking distance from our hotel in the Barra is A-Ma Temple, one of the major landmarks "Macao" Macau, situated on the southwest tip of the peninsula. Built in 1488, it is the oldest of Macau’s three major temples. It is said that Macau, the Portuguese name of the city, came from the temple’s name A-Ma-Gau or Place of A-Ma, the seafarer’s goddess, to whom it is dedicated. According to legend, A-Ma, a poor girl looking for passage to Canton, was refused by the wealthy junk owners but a lowly fisherman took her on board. A storm blew in and wrecked all but the boat carrying the girl. Upon arrival in Macau she vanished, to reappear as a goddess, on the spot where the fishermen built her a temple. Just across A-Ma temple is the Maritime Museum. The building is in the shape of a sailing ship anchored in the waters of the inner harbor. It shows the traditions and way of life of the fishermen in Macau and South China.
20. Dinner was at Restaurante Fernando in Coloane. A visit to Macau wouldn’t be complete without trying its irresistable mouth-watering chochinillo or suckling pig. Other must-try dishes are its bacalhau al horno and clams. (No. 9 Praia de Hac Sa, Coloane. Call 853-882-264, 882-531.)
21. On our last day, we went our separate ways exploring other parts of the city we hadn’t seen. Several of us went to the Museu de Arte de Macau at the Centro Cultural in the morning. Soler and wife Mona (a painter in her own right) went to see the Sun Yat Sen Park, both being painters of nature. Afterwhich, Mary Ann, Bencab, Annie and I went back to the antiques lane Rua de San Paulo for Bencab to check on some porcelain and San Ma Lo for me to take some more photographs. We had a quick bite of roast goose and rice at one of the stalls on the side streets. Back at the Pousada, it was a lazy afternoon of siesta and swimming after that.
22. Kill Bill: Portuguese chef Antonio Neves Coelho shows Mary Ann how to open a bottle of champagne with the use of a sword. Our last farewell dinner was held at his Espaço Lisboa in Coloane Village, just off the corner where the famous Lord Stow egg tarts started. A fabulous Portuguese dinner followed after the welcome toast by some local artists we’d met during the Asian Internation Arts Exhibition held at the Ayala Museum earlier this year, delighted as we were by their surprise presence. For appe-tizers, we had oven-melted goat cheese with honey on toasted bread, chorizo grilled by the tableside on a terra cotta griller and a typical continental mixed green salad dressed with a light vinaigrette. For main courses, we had a bacalhau dish with creamy sauce (a milk reduction), fried breaded sole fillet, boiled vegetables, panfried pork ribs flavored with chorizo and morcilla, ending with cherry flambé prepared at tableside by Chef Antonio himself, complemented by a port and espresso.
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