Day 02 Macau Taipa Village and Dinner at Galo

We finally exited the glamour and glitz of Venetian Resort late in the afternoon. Just across the 6 lanes highway (Left) is another attraction waiting for us but this time for its culture and history, the Taipa Village. Though it is a highway, we walked across without any hassle because there weren't alot of vehicles that day. Didn't I mentioned earlier that you can almost get away without paying any public transports? Unfortunately, this is also the time when my camera's battery decided to play dead on me. Therefore, I had to reduce my photo counts severely and reserve the last bit of battery for very special moments.
Taipa village is filled with cobbled streets, blooming flowers and walls decorated with mini white and blue mosaics depicting their history (1st bottom). I was told by my brother that this area has the most Macanese of Portugese or mixed parentage descendants. Sure enough, we saw alot of them chilling out around the streets. We took a breather to enjoy the serene surrounding after arriving at the village (2nd bottom).

After this point, we decided to split. My parents wanted to wander around this area whilst my brother and I tracked further into the village. Not far from where we rested is the Temple of Goddess of Sea (天后廟). Unfortunately, no pictures were taken.
We tracked approximately for another 1km before reaching the summit of a hill. Along the way, we passed the main street of the village where we would later have our dinner. Perched right at the top of this hill is The Church of Our Lady Carmel (Bottom). The church is distinctively European and apparently very beautiful inside although I did not have the chance to have a look because it was closed for the day. I was told that this is a favourite spot for wedding pictures and I wasn't surpised at all. Judging from the angle of the sun, you can guess that it is already very late afternoon when I was there.

On the other side of the hill where I came from, lies the Taipa Houses Museum (Bottom). This museum preserved the charming colonial Portugese settlements. Facing the houses is a pond with flowering lotus. The combination of these scenery was very stunning indeed.

  

After exploring the area, we left the museum and scaled down the hill. When we arrived back at the point we started, my brother recommended me to try a Portugese dessert known as Serradura or Saw Dust Pudding (Bottom). I couldn't remember clearly but the pudding should have costs me MOP7.50. In the heat of the evening and after walking quite a substantial distant, the cold creamy dessert was really a welcome treat. It consisted of a few layers and the bottom layer has a cake-ish-like texture. The middle layer was like custard and the top layer was a generous sprinkle of crushed biscuits. The closest dessert I have tasted would be Tiramisu. I could easily had two more helpings but I restrained myself from indulging too much.

By the time we were done with the dessert, dinner time has arrived. We had our dinner in Galo restaurant (公鸡) (Bottom) which is highly recommended by my brother. My brother was right after all as the restaurant was consistently full with customers during the whole duration of our dinner. In fact many people, mostly tourists, were turned away because they did not make any prior bookings.

I did not have many photos to show on the food we ordered but I can assure that they are mostly delicious. The logo of the restaurant is a cock and it reminded me very much of Nandos. Perhaps the Portugese have an affinity to the symbol of a cock. The must-orders in Galo would be the Pork Salad, Bacahal and Western Fried Rice. However, the star of the night would be the Sangria cocktail because it complimented the meal perfectly (Bottom). I really wanted to have another Serradura but I didn't have the stomach for it anymore.  

After a sumptuous meal, we left Taipa Island and called it a day. Yet another interesting day in Macau.

Links:
Day 02 Macau - Dim Sum - Venetian Resort