Two leading Irish academics visited me recently after attending a large international conference in Macau. My two friends raved about the state-of-the-art management of the conference venue, a glitzy five-star hotel in the Cotai Strip, at length before expressing their disappointment at being overwhelmed by casinos and European landmark replicas.

I feel sorry for my friends, for those poor academics had precious little time to venture out of their conference venue environs. It is true that Macau can frequently feel overrun by tourists who are looking for fun and might not be interested in cultural explorations. But how can a city with almost 500 years of European cultural exchange disappoint in its cultural offerings?

The following is a guide for a short but in-depth weekend trip to explore the rich history of Macau.

Start with A-Ma Temple on the Macau Peninsula, the very spot that made Macau Macau. Legend has it that when early Portuguese navigators reached this corner of the Far East and asked the locals for their whereabouts, they mistook the answer Maa-gok, the temple’s Cantonese name, for the name of the place and named the peninsula Macau. The Temple, thought to be built before Columbus “discovered” the Americas, honors the Goddess of Seafaring Mazu. Opposite the temple stands the Maritime Museum, which is well worth a visit.

The temple faces piers serving different trades along the Inner Harbor. Some are now defunct, the most noteworthy being perhaps Pier 11, where the Kwong Hing Tai Firecracker Company office building still stands.

One hundred years ago, the major industry in tiny Macau was firecracker manufacturing. For a wonderful exhibition of this piece of Macanese history, make a special trip to the former site of the Iec Long Firecracker Factory on Taipa.

Do not just stroll along Rua do Almirante Sergio, but also check out Rua do Dr Lourenco Pereira Marques, where plenty of seafood companies still operate.

Continue walking northward along Almirante Sergio until you hit Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro, which will lead you to the picturesque Largo do Senado, Macau’s most easily recognizable image together with that of the Ruins of Saint Paul’s. You will have plenty of time to explore those famous sites later on.

About 100 meters onto Almeida Ribeiro, turn left on Rua de Cinco de Outubro, which commemorates Portugal became a republic on October 5, 1910. This street is as local as it gets: At Tai Long Fong Casa de Cha, you will find patrons enjoying dim sum to Cantonese Opera tunes performed by professionals and aficionados alike in the background. The dining experience is decidedly a throwback to the 1980s.

Further down the street, you will find tea shops selling lychee red tea. This fragrant tea is not easy to find. It is an unmistakably Cantonese tea and is prepared by smoking tea leaves with lychee fruit.

You will also find various traditional eateries, including Nam Peng Cafe, another throwback to times bygone, as well as the Ngao Kei curry house at the end of the street. Take your pick for lunch.

Continue north at the end of the road and take the next right. The name Travessa dos Calafates (Caulkers Lane), just like the names of many other lanes and streets you have passed by, reminds you of those who have plied their trade in this area. You’ll see a small temple at the end of the lane, like the kind found throughout the Macau Peninsula.

Meander up the stairs to its left, and you will be amazed by your vista. You will find three more temples of various deities, including the Monkey King and the God of Marriage and Love. You will find offerings made by Macanese singles hoping for love around the Lantern Festival in February.

Continue your climb up to Camoes Garden, which pays homage to Luis Vaz de Camoes, who wrote part of his Portuguese epic poem “Os Lusiadas” in a cave right here. Look not only for his statue but also for mosaics depicting sections of the epic.

Find your way to the garden’s main entrance, to the left of which you will see traces of a whole different kind of deity. The British East India Company church and cemetery — an Anglican cemetery in overwhelmingly Catholic Portuguese Macau — is noteworthy for three reasons: the grave of the missionary Robert Morrison, author of the first Chinese-English dictionary; the grave of the English painter George Chinnery, whose seminal watercolor paintings of Guangzhou (Canton as it was known then) are a valuable record of south China in the 19th century; and the graves of British officers who fought in the First Opium War, which was launched by Britain against China in 1840 and led to what Chinese historians describe as China’s “century of humiliation,” a series of colonial military engagements as well as the Japanese invasion.

Camoes Garden is only 10 minutes away from the famous Ruins of Saint Paul’s. Join the throngs of tourists in exploring the architecture, if not shopping, down the steps from the church. Alternatively, visit the nearby Macau Museum right in the historic Mount Fortress.

Two other hidden gems of the peninsula are the murals inside the Guia Chapel at the Guia Fortress, which overlooks the Outer Harbor (as it faces the Pacific Ocean), and the Penha Hill, which was once the seat of the Macanese Archbishop. The chapel dates from 1622.

Finish your trip with a hearty Macanese dinner — Chinese-Portuguese fusion cuisine with a long history — at Restaurante Litoral and A Lorcha restaurant, both a stone’s throw from A-Ma Temple, or the more earthy and local A Vencedora restaurant. Booking is necessary for the former two.

Tips:

There are 12 flights from Shanghai Hong­qiao and Pudong international airports daily. An alternative is the overnight sleeper train D941, which departs from Shanghai Hong­qiao Railway Station at 7:55pm and reaches Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, at 8:27 the following morning. Zhuhai station is within walking distance of the Zhuhai-Macau border. D941 runs only from Friday to Monday, and the same applies to its return service, D942, which leaves Zhuhai at 6:14pm and reaches Hongqiao at 7am the next day.