Sunday, August 6, 2017

DAY 2 in Macau ~ Visiting Taipa Village and Casino Hopping at the Cotai Strip

We checked out early Sofitel Macau at Ponte 16 to transfer to our Cotai area hotel at the Holiday Inn.  

The plan was to deposit our luggage before touring the Taipa Village.


Holiday Inn Cotai Macau is part of the Sands Cotai complex shared with hotel brands Conrad, Sheraton and St. Regis ~ you can just imagine how grand the complex lobby is. There were also lots of people checking-in, checking-out, heading to the casinos and simply passing by.

After check-in, we left our luggage at the hotel's luggage storage counter. 


From the Holiday Inn, we walked our way to the Venetian Macau shuttle bus port.  The Old Taipa Village is about 10-15 minutes walk from the Venetian Macau via a travellator accessed through an overpass.


From the Venetian’s West Lobby walk towards the Galaxy hotel. You will see an escalator on your right. Take the overpass.  You will soon see the a travellator that would take you directly to the Old Taipa Village.


Click here to see the cool travellator at work >>>Off to Old Taipa Village.


Finally the Old Taipa Village. 

To help plan your Taipa trip, check out the Taipa Village website >>>www.taipavillagemacau.com. Use this website's guide to make the most of your time.

Taipa Village is an iconic heritage spot. 

Local residents used to make a living through fishing, firecrackers production and other handicraft professions.


It was almost noon time when we arrived at the Taipa Village, so we decided to have lunch first before exploring the area.

Lunch was at the Comida Portuguesa O Santos.
It is a quaint little restaurant serving authentic cuisine in Southern Portuguese style. 

>Food was flavorful and delicious. I love the beef skewer, it was tender and juicy, cooked just right. 

>Serving was hefty and good for sharing.  The owner was there the day we visited and seems very hands on in entertaining guests and visitors.  He seems a really nice person. 

Chouriço Alentejano Assado


Espetadas de Carne de Vaca


We were also served complimentary bread with butter. 


Recommended Attractions:


1. Museum of Taipa and Coloane History houses a collection of findings and relics uncovered from different archaeological excavations.









2. Kun Iam Temple where a tranquil and valuable Kun Iam statue with burnished gold leaf still stands.



3. Cunha Street for local (not so local) delights and desserts. Check out this refreshing all natural Guava Juice stand. 




4. Our Lady of Carmo Church is a Catholics stands on a hill overlooking scenic Taipa Village.



5. Taipa Houses Museum. The houses are open for viewing with permanent and non-permanent exhibits.



The “Exhibition Gallery”





“Macanese House”, the “House of the Islands”, the “House of the Portugal Regions”


A wonderful add on during our visit was the on going Macao Lotus Flower Festival.
It showcases the lotus flowers in full bloom in a Suzhou-inspired Lou Lim Ieoc Garden viewable from the Taipa Houses Museum.




From here we retraced our steps back to Venetian Macao.  We decided to retire early since we will be seeing the House of Magic Show later. 

Relaxing our tired feet... finally able to get inside our room.

It was a good thing we checked in early (we were able to skip the swarm of tourists checking-in) and just need to pick up our room keys.

The room is typical of a Holiday Inn hotel.  The room was good, but was a far cry from the Sofitel Macau be stayed in last night (we should have never left Sofitel).


King size bed


Toiletries (so, so)


The bathroom was just but basic.




Got to rest and refresh a bit.  We need energy later ~ for some casino hopping and the House of Magic ~ Part 2 of our Day 2





1 comment:

  1. they could not enter the casino wearing slippers, sleveless, sando etc. So it was just the ladies who went over to the casino to play the machines. eclipse casino

    ReplyDelete

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