The bustling and noisy Grass Selling Street connects to the Dasanba Street, and if you walk eastward for a short while, you will soon reach the Leal Senado Square. Originally called Fountain Plaza, there was a globe in the middle of the fountain symbolizing Portugal's maritime expeditions. There are many old buildings around here, and Macau residents love to celebrate all sorts of holidays and hold celebrations here. Not far from the Civic Affairs Bureau lies the legendary red-light district of old Macau: Red Window Door Street and Fuk Long New Street. All two-story houses, white walls paired with red windows and doors, exuding quite an atmosphere, the style is completely different from the main street just a hundred meters away. Since the Qing Dynasty, this area has been filled with inns, brothels, gambling dens, and opium houses... full of smoke and haze! Nowadays, it has completely transformed, becoming a gathering place for numerous food restaurants and specialty souvenir shops. The evil casinos... last night, I ultimately failed to have a bowl of more expensive shark fin soup at Tan's Shark Fin Restaurant, only using Vietnamese noodle soup on the third floor's food court to stave off hunger. The betting prices have risen to 300 yuan per round, making it quite unaffordable! Fortunately, I strictly controlled my gambling funds; otherwise, no matter how much money one had, it would vanish like water droplets into the sea, leaving no trace behind.
The white building on the east side of the square holds significant history: In 1569, the first bishop of Macau founded the Charitable Institution of the Holy House of Mercy, and this is its headquarters building.
Dasanba is the most famous scenic historical site in Macau. This is the original site of the Church of St. Paul, built in 1580, which later burned down in a fire in 1835, leaving only the facade. Because its appearance resembles a traditional Chinese memorial archway, it is also known as the Dasanba Archway. The archway possesses extremely high historical value, and the Macau government continues to open it free to the public, showing great generosity!
The south side of the square is the main street... the main street is also called the new street, with a simple and memorable name. Previously, the foreigners gave it a very long name, "Avenida Almeida Ribeiro." Across the street is the Macau Leal Senado, now called the Civic Affairs Bureau Building, built in 1584.
Finally, we decided to have lunch at "Ah Sam Shark Fin," recommended by a domestic culinary guidebook. Pure Cantonese cuisine, authentic taste. However, instead of having a pricey individual portion of shark fins for this meal, we opted for an ordinary shark fin soup. Mixing the delicious soup with rice is something worth recommending to everyone.
The outer layer of the egg tart is flaky and crispy, the filling is rich and fragrant, the aroma of eggs permeates your mouth and melts instantly, leaving a sweet aftertaste lingering on your taste buds. Paired with a cup of Italian coffee, it feels fantastic!
Isn't this the "Fuxiaolou" that frequently appeared during Hong Kong TV ad breaks in the eighties? It's originally called "FAT SIU LAU," so amazing! At the time, I had a strong impulse to go inside, but there were few takers among my companions. After checking some information upon returning, I felt even more regretful. Fuxiaolou was established in 1903 and is the oldest Portuguese restaurant in Macau. Next time when I visit Macau again, I must try their family recipe Shiqi roasted pigeon, Portuguese curry crab, fried cod balls, signature pork chop rice, and dessert Soufflé...
To be continued... The next morning dawned unusually cold! Gathering our group, we set out towards the Macau Peninsula. Three hundred meters west of the New Lisboa on the main street is a Lukfo Jewelry store. Thirty meters down the side alley beside it hides the world-famous Margaret’s Egg Tarts Shop. Margaret was the ex-wife of Andrew, the founder of Macanese Portuguese-style egg tarts, who started her own business after they split up but continued the secret recipe for egg tarts. Eating a few hot egg tarts under the freezing weather warmed us up immediately.
I took a few pictures of the street scene with my camera, but they didn’t seem impressive enough! So I did some processing on the following few photos, deviating somewhat from what was actually seen.
On the central stone door of the lower level of the archway, there is carved the Latin word "MATER DEI", meaning "Mother of God."
The ruins of the church also include many remains of the ground from those days, including the main hall (underground crypt) of the Dasanba church and the Jesuit Church, etc.
The crazy taxi driver led us through streets and alleys to a spot near Dasanba. The distant view of Dasanba is much more beautiful than the close-up, generally speaking, it’s normal to walk from afar to get closer. But as soon as I got out of the car, I saw the frail and thin side of Dasanba... Haha, LBS is a tool rather than a model, the taxi driver was quite diligent!
Looking up, this church has four floors plus a spire. On the spire is a copper dove-shaped emblem, and each floor below has niches where copper statues of deities are placed. Moreover, the eaves and columns have exquisite stone carvings, incorporating quite a few elements of Chinese culture.
Walking around to the back of the archway, I climbed the iron staircase to the second-floor position for a visit. Looking out from the window on the wall: the steps and square in front of the archway are always crowded with people flowing continuously from Dasanba Street... You can imagine the clergy of the church in those days overseeing the small city and living leisurely lives from here.
Walking down the steps, gradually moving further away from Dasanba... heading along Dasanba Street toward the main street's Leal Senado Square. Dasanba Archway remained within sight for a long time without being obstructed, indicating that the planning of this area emphasized the visual landscape of the Dasanba Archway.
Just as I wanted to cross through the archway, I suddenly saw a fashionable young couple shooting an outdoor scene at the entrance. Seemingly hearing the man speak Japanese, and the woman speaking Cantonese... Judging from their movements, they should be professional models. Otherwise, how could they appear so natural and composed in front of constantly photographing tourists?