S. Francisco Garden — Attraction in Sé

Jardim de S. Francisco (San Francisco Garden) is one of the beautiful and interesting gardens that you've probably never heard of in Macau. Located behind the Grand Lisboa hotel, this well landscaped and architecturally interesting city park is much enjoyed by local residents but is off the radar for most tourists.

Built in the late 19th century, the garden is terraced with pastel pink mounts, decorative fountains, tiled pavements and two particularly interesting historical buildings to see, both of which are rarely covered in Macau guidebooks. The first is a Chinese Pavilion, located in midst the small car park at the garden. This structure has been refitted into a public library space. It is a neat structure and a good use of space for local residents.

On the upper terrace you will also find a round tower building built in dedication to combatants of WWI that is small, simple and just beautiful. This two storey round tower includes a decorate facade and is of the same pink pastel colour, matching the garden structures and the nearby military barracks building. It is such a cute building that is much adorned in Macau by local residents, being one of the iconic small buildings here that the outside world knows little about.

San Francisco garden includes park benches and plenty of places to grab a seat in the terrace areas. There is exercise equipment, a small children's playground area and lots of trees to provide shade for visitors who need a break from sightseeing in the nearby Historic City Centre, a 7-8 walk away. Lastly, there is free government wifi access at Jardim de...

在水坑尾與南灣大馬路的交界，會看到一座中式亭子，屋頂墨綠、窗框門柵均為鮮紅，別具一格。澳門人通常叫這亭子做“八角亭”，因為俯瞰下來，亭子成八角形。現在亭子是一座圖書館，而在亭後的一大片休憩地帶，以至其上部區域，就是加思欄花園的所在。

花園的得名，是由於16世紀在這處山陵修建的方濟各修院，原屬西班牙天主教方濟各會，後來被葡萄牙方濟各會所取代。方濟各修院又可譯作“噶斯蘭廟”，與“加思欄”音近，可見修院與花園之名有密切關係，不過，“噶斯蘭”的詞音與“方濟各”（S.Francisco）差距很大，又怎會拉上關係？這個問題眾說紛紜，有的說是因為這裡的修院早期是西班牙人，也就是“卡斯提亞”族（Castilla）的人興建的，因此稱為音近的“加思欄”；也有一個更為有趣的說法，就是有一位清代官員到此處視察，問起隨行翻譯這裡的地名，翻譯是位葡國神父，依其書寫習慣，由左至右寫出譯音“欄思加”，中國官員卻按中文讀寫方式，倒轉讀出，因而成了“加思欄”。花園的得名居然是源自一場誤會？是否屬實，也就不得而知了。

這座花園歷史悠久，建於1860年代，是澳門首座花園，也是澳門古樹最為集中的公園之一，由蘇雅士(Matias...

Um espaço verde histórico que sofreu amputações e metamorfoses ao longo dos tempos e que tão gratas recordações tenho dele! Foram dois anos aqui a caminhar sempre que me dirigia ao meu posto de trabalho. O Jardim de S. Francisco é o jardim mais antigo de Macau. A sua história remonta aos finais do séc. XVI e nessa data havia um convento no local hoje ocupado pelo jardim. O convento foi construído por frades castelhanos da ordem franciscana. Os frades castelhanos foram mais tarde substituídos por frades portugueses da mesma ordem mas o nome original para a comunidade chinesa permanece, em cantonês dizem 'Ka-Si-Lán-Fa-Yun', que significa 'Jardim dos...