Macau is full of surprising contrasts

My girlfriend and i had a long layover in Macau, giving us the opportunity to explore this city full of contrasts for a day.
It’s honestly hard to make sense of this place because of so many seemingly parallel realities existing next to each other on such a small area, which gives the place a ”trippy“ feeling. This subdivision of China, which enjoys the same "special autonomous region"-status as HongKong, is barely 33 square kilometers after all. On one hand it's known as the gambling capital of Asia (the Las Vegas of China if you want), it's also a former portuguese colony (with the accompanying old town filled to the brim with portuguese (religious) architecture) and host of the Macau grand prix.

We decided to take one of the free shuttle buses from the airport to the Grand Lisboa casino, the most visually striking and skyline-defining casino of Macau, and make our way from there to the old town without sticking to a fixed route or schedule too much. This was the right choice since simply wandering the (back)streets of the old town proved to be the most enjoyable part of our trip. Sure, sights like the ruins of St. Paul's are iconic and not to be missed, but Macau really shines when its showcasing its everyday-life: the shopfronts written in both Mandarin and Portuguese, tiled street signs, the mix between high-density residential buildings and historical european architecture,... it all had its own flavour.

WHAT WE SAW

The Grand Lisboa Macau--> picture 1

Perhaps the crown jewel of all Macau casino's, at least when you take visual spectacle into account. You have casino's in all varieties of styles in Macau: oversized versions of french chateau's, a mock-Venice, one that looks as if The Notte Dame and King's cross had a child,... I took this forced-perspective shot, showcasing the crazy contrast between the hideously overtowering casino from a location famoud s among photographers and my picture definitely isn’t the best/the only one showing this perspective online.

Ruins of St. Paul's--> pictures 3,8,12 and 13

The facade is the only thing remaining from this 17th-century religious complex, one of Macau's beloved icons with its imagery heavily featured on candies, souvenirs,...

Historic centre of Macau-->pictures 6,7,9,14,15 and 16

The whole old city center of Macau is designated as UNESCO world heritage and is full of renovated portuguese-style buildings, dating all the way back from the 16th century with the Senado sauare as central gathering point. The nearby St. Dominic's church with attached museum of religious objects and art is open to visitors but doesn't offer anything remotely unique or spectacular for the European visitor. Except for the fact that you find yourself in a familar setting so far away from home.

Macau's high density neighborhoods—> pictures 2,4,5,10,11 and 17

Macau's population density is crazily high (some reports even state it's the highest among all first-level subdivisions worldwide) and these neighborhoods are a reflection of that. Personally i find them comforting to walk through, offering a slice of couleur locale. Macau is incredibly hilly as well.