Senado Square

Close your eyes for just a moment and listen. The chatter of a dozen languages. The click of cameras. The gentle splash of a fountain. Now open your eyes and look down at the ground beneath your feet. Those distinctive black and white wave-pattern tiles are not just decorative. They are a signature, a calling card from Lisbon transported eight thousand miles across the world. Welcome to Senado Square, the absolute heart of Macao. This square has been the centre of civic life since the Portuguese established their permanent settlement here in the sixteenth century. Government proclamations were read here. Festivals were celebrated here. Protests erupted here. Markets thrived here. If Macao has a soul, you are standing on it. Look around at the buildings. That gorgeous palette of pastel colours, cream, mint green, soft yellow, pale pink, is classic Portuguese colonial architecture, the same style you would find in Lisbon's Baixa district or in the old quarters of Goa. The Portuguese carried their building traditions across their empire, and Macao preserves them better than almost anywhere else. The wave-pattern paving beneath your feet is called calcada portuguesa. This mosaic technique originated in Lisbon after the great earthquake of 1755,...