St. Francis

The egg tart may be the culinary symbol of Macau, but there's really only one original, and that can be found at a place called Lord Stow's Cafe. On our second full day in Macau, we left the peninsula via bus to the other half of the city; two small islands that have been joined together by a man-made land bridge, essentially doubling their size. At the very south end of the island, we started our morning with an egg tart at Lord Stow's Bakery Cafe...

egg tart

...and enjoyed the quiet of the sleepy seaside town that felt so different from the rest of Macau.

at a quiet beach

This area had some funky cafes and restaurants, but it's still really undeveloped compared to the rest of Macau. It felt totally different, and I really liked it!

a cool cafe

Lord Stow's - home of the original Macanese egg tart

The main attraction way down at the south of the island is the Church of St. Francis Xavier. The founder of the Jesuit Order (who was buried for a time in Malacca) was based out of Macau.

St. Francis

The church is small, but is one of the oldest historical buildings on the islands.

St. Francis Xavier

The area is charming and quiet, with beautiful colorful buildings and narrow winding lanes.

the neighborhood around St. Francis

It's also home to a tiny Chinese temple on the far tip of the island.

Chinese temple

As we walked around the neighborhood, we passed a few local houses shrines.

tiny shrine

In the afternoon, we took the bus to the northern end of the island, past all of the casinos, to the Macanese House Museum. This museum was free to visit, and showed what life was like for a typical Eurasian (mixed Portuguese/Chinese ancestry) merchant-class family.

the House Museum

There was also another beautiful old church there, which asked that if you enter as a tourist, you leave as a pilgrim. Behind the casinos, Grand Prix, and shopping malls, Macau is surprisingly spiritual.

another Catholic church

The majority of the people in Macau are Buddhist, though, and there seems to be some small Buddhist temple or shrine located on every corner.

small Buddhist temple

We also visited the Macau History Museum. This one was also free (we just got lucky that day)!

museum of history

The sun was sinking low in the sky, but our long, long day wasn't over yet. We still had to tour Macau's most famous attractions; the casinos...

a small shrine