Macau - the Old Fort

Starting at the Top
After my poker let down (or shall we say relief?) I switched into explorer mode and did what any good explorer does - sought the high ground.  I headed for the hills and found Macau's version to be steep.  I felt like a billy goat on this street, it was like someone leaned a ladder against a cliff and I was somewhere on the middle rungs.  How anyone considered sticking buildings into the ground at this angle is beyond me.  As I stood in the middle of the road taking this shot I was unusually aware of my achilles, which which were stretched to the point of snapping.  Half way to the greenery in the distance, I was completely out of breath but pretended not to be.

I reached the peak and found an old Portuguese fort.  Cannons were pointing out through the rampart.  It was strange to see something so thoroughly European at the top of a hill on an island off China.  It's something from a history book that you don't quite appreciate until you're staring up at it.  What were the Portuguese defending against?  Other colonial powers, of course.

The fort is now a museum so I strolled inside.  One of the cannons was aimed directly at the gaudy Lisboa casino.  It made me chuckle.  I wonder if someone pointed it there on purpose.

Looking the other direction, towards the Northeast, I took in the entire island.  It's small, much smaller than Hong Kong, less than a tenth in size.  Just across the river is China. 

Relative to Hong Kong's 7 million, the half million in Macau are not as pressed for space, though you may not think that looking down on the city.  From this height it looks positively crowded but I never got that feeling as I later walked around.

I caught a glimpse of some other interesting sights to visit: namely the famous ruins of St Paul's church and Senado Square.  I took a few more shots and then headed down.

The hills seemed even steeper on the way down but what stood out more was the silence.  It was absolutely quiet, all I heard were the birds.  Maybe I was visiting during a holiday, perhaps everyone was somewhere else.

I turned down a winding street which felt so familiar.  I had the strange sense that I'd been there before but I couldn't figure out why.  When I reached the old town I finally understood.