Coloane Village

Welcome to Coloane Village, one of Macao's best-kept secrets and a place that feels wonderfully untouched by time. If you have been exploring the bright lights and towering casinos of the Cotai Strip, stepping into this quiet seaside square is going to feel like you have wandered into a completely different world. And in many ways, you have. You are standing in Eduardo Marques Square, named after a Portuguese naval officer. Look down at your feet and you will notice the unmistakable wave-pattern cobblestones, those beautiful undulating black and white tiles that the Portuguese brought here from Lisbon. They called this style calcada portuguesa, and finding it here on a tiny island in the South China Sea is one of those magical reminders of how far the Portuguese trading empire actually reached. Coloane was once a wild and remote place. In the nineteenth century, it was notorious for piracy, and the last major pirate battle in these waters happened right here in 1910. The Chapel of St. Francis Xavier, that charming little yellow and white church you can see on the square, was built in 1928 partly to commemorate the defeat of those pirates. Inside, it once held a bone...