Despite my reservations, a visit to Macao proved a safe bet

Despite having previously lived in South China for over three years, I never took the chance to visit Macao, a city that is just a stone's throw away from where I was based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, usually choosing to head to Hong Kong, or travel further afield. I put my general lack of curiosity toward the city down to having no desire to gamble or visit the many casinos that have made Macao their home. However, having now finally visited the city for the first time, I can see that holding such an opinion was a huge misrepresentation of the city, which, while unarguably famous for its gambling industry, does have a great deal more to offer, and I regret not taking a trip there sooner.

Macao, which was under Portuguese rule for over 400 years until 1999, is located in the western Pearl River Delta and is just a short trip away from any of the cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Over the course of its history, Macao has grown from a small cluster of coastal islands into one of the most popular gambling locations in the world, with two-thirds of its current land area reclaimed from the ocean. And despite its tiny area — a mere 32.9 square kilometers with a population of 680,000 — making it the most densely populated region in the world, the city has so much to offer to those visiting.

Having only just over a day to get in as much of the city as I could, I decided to set out on foot with my camera and see what I could find. One benefit of the city's condensed area is that it's possible to take in the city's many sights by foot, not needing to rely on public transport, giving one the opportunity to get a true feeling for the place by exploring its tangle of small streets.

Without really knowing where I was going, I managed to stumble upon a number of Macao's fascinating landmarks, including St. Dominic's Church, first built in 1587, the Fortaleza do Monte, or Mount Fortress, a 17th century fort overlooking the renowned Ruins of Saint Paul's, one of the city's biggest draws, and finally ending up at A-Ma Temple, a temple dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu dating back to 1488. And despite my best efforts to avoid the casinos, the vast monoliths are inescapable as they tower over the city's many apartment blocks and shops.

But even without these landmarks, I enjoyed walking through Macao's confined historic streets, taking in the aged, and occasionally crumbling, European facades plastered in Chinese characters and neon lights. From a purely architectural point of view Macao is unlike any city I have ever visited. It is the city's unique blend of Portuguese and Chinese architectural and cultural elements, in place since becoming a trading post for Portugal during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) in 1557, that led to the city center's inscription on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2005.

This amalgamation of two vastly different cultures creates a fascinating visual palette, and these two contrasting worlds collide in such a way to form something truly individual and eye-catching that is well worth visiting. Perhaps my impressions of Macao were influenced by my initial lower expectations, but I was utterly taken aback by the city and everything it has to offer and look forward to returning as soon as possible.