St. John's Fort

St. John's Fort was constructed by the Dutch in the 18th century and was once a private chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist. The interesting features that should be paid attention, is the cannons in the fort that are faced inland instead to the sea. The view from the top of the hill where St. John's stands is particularly for the fantastic tropical sunset that consistently builds great valuable experiences.

Address: Jalan Ujong Pasir, 75050 Melaka, Malaysia

Operation Hour: St. John’s Fort is open daily to the member of public.

Admission Fee: Free.

The King's Well (Hang Li Po's Well)

King's Well was built in 1459 by the followers of Princess Hang Li Poh as the main source of water supply in the town. Being the oldest well in Malaysia, it is said that the well will never dried up, not even during times of extreme drought.

Upon conquering Melaka in 1511, the Portuguese secured the well and hence gained total control of the well to serve as one of their main sources of water supply. In retaliation, Sultan Mansur Shah seek help from the Javanese and the well were filled with poison and many who drank from it died of poisoning. According to Portuguese historian, Diogo de Couto, many Portuguese soldiers died from drinking the water from the well.

After the Dutch conquered Malacca in1677, they surrounded the well with solid brick walls in bid to safeguard the well and prevent it from being poisoned again and maintain their rights over it and to. The wall surrounding the well erected by the Dutch is still present today.

Address: Jalan Puteri Hang Li Poh, 75100 Melaka

Open hours: 7.00 a.m - 7.00 p.m, no holiday

Inquiry: 06-283 6538

Melaka Sultanate Palace

The Melaka Sultanate Palace is a replica of the palace of the Melaka Sultan known as Istana.  It was officiated by Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad on 17th July 1986. The genuine Istana is originally located on the tio of St. Paul's Hill, which also known as Melaka hill.

The Melaka Sultanate Palace.

The admission fee for adult will be 2 ringgit and for student or child, it will be only 50 cents. The operating hour of this museum is 9am to 5:30 pm.

The enterance gate of the museum. Plastis bag will be given with the ticket after the vistors paid for their ticket at here.

There is also an interesting note for  visitors to the museum that visitors have to take off their shoes when you get into the "palace". I think it's the only museum in Malaysia that does that. Visitors will be given a plastic bag if they want to carry their shoes into the museum instead of leaving their shoes outside. It is also the only Museum in Malaysia which does that.

A’Famosa Fort

A’Famosa Fort

Inside A'Famosa.

A’Famosa Fort is a famous langmark in Melaka. The "A Famosa" actually means "The Famous" in Portuguese and this is one of the oldest surviving remnants of European architecture in Asia. As such an old remnant,it has a long and interesting history to tell.

In 1511 a Portuguese fleet arrived under the command of Alfonso de Albequerque. His forces attacked and successfully defeated the armies of the native Sultanate. Moving quickly to consolidate his gains, Albequerque had the fortress built around a natural hill near the sea. Albequerque believed that Melaka would become an important port linking Portugal to the spice trade from China. At his time other Portuguese were establishing outposts in such places as Macau, China and Goa, India in order to create a string of friendly ports for ships heading to China and returning home to Portugal.

The fortress once consisted of long ramparts and four major towers. One was a four-story keep, while the others held an ammunition's storage room, the residence of the captain, and an officers' quarters.

As the plan below shows, most of the village clustered in town houses inside the fortress walls. As Melaka's population expanded it outgrew the original fort and extensions were added around 1586. Throughout this time, the walls of the fort repeatedly withstood large attacks by native elements.

The fort changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch successfully drove the Portuguese out of Melaka. The Dutch renovated the gate in 1670, which explains the logo "ANNO 1670" inscribed on the gate's arch. Above the arch is a bas-relief logo of the Dutch East India Company.

The fortress changed hands again in the early 19th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British to prevent Melaka from falling into the hands of Napoleon's expansionist France. The English, knowing that they would have to return the fort to the Dutch at the end of the Napoleonic wars, were determined to make the city as useless to the Dutch as possible. They planned to relocate the population and demolish the fort. This nearly happened, but Sir Stanford Raffles (the founder of Singapore) persuaded the English to let the residents remain and also prevented the total obliteration of the fort by convincing the English to let one gate remain for history's sake. It is quite possible that in doing this, Raffles spared the remaining historical monuments of Melaka as well.

Plan of the fortress from 1630. The Porta de Santiago is noted by the arrow. (Repost from orientalarchitecture)

For History Story lovers, A'Famosa Fort is a place MUST visit when you go to Melaka.

Special note for GIRLS: When there is no crowd, this place is also a nice choice to take photo of OOTD. ;)

Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum

The entrance of the Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum.

Baba Nyonya is also known as Straits-born Chinese or Peranakan are of Chinese noble descendants which adopted the Malays culture. The interesting unique blend of cultures is born after the intermarriages between the Chinese and the local Malay. The exceptional culture can now be seen and indulge in the renowned Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum. 

Established in the year of 1896,the museum illustrates the adoption of the lives and traditional of Baba Nyonya in Malacca.The privately owned museum run by the Babas and Nyonyas of the town is wonderfully designed from inside and out. It enables you to learn every bit of the history and culture of Baba Nyonya.Aside showcases the ethnic of the local blend; the museum displays valuable century old Baba Nyonya traditional costume, wood-work art and antique furniture. Each displayed items in the museum has its own story to tell.

Address: No.50, Jalan Tan Cheng Lock, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia
Office Number: +606 2831273

St. Paul's Church

 

St Paul's Church locates on the top of St Paul's Hill which was originally named as Malacca Hill. Long time ago, it was a chapel and was known to the Portuguese in Malacca as the Chapel of Mother of God. The current address of the location is Jalan Kota, Bandar Hilir, 75000 Melaka.

It is a famous landmark in Maleka. It may take some time to climb to the church especially during hot weather day. However, even it is exposed during climbing to the church and it actually has been ruined, it is still attractive.

Tn the grounds of St. Paul’s is a marble statue of St. Francis Xavier that was built in 1953. The first thing you notice is that the saint is missing his half of his right arm. St. Francis Xavier was a Catholic missionary who translated the Bible into Malay and was a pioneer in spreading Catholicism across Southeast Asia. During his lifetime it was said that he performed several miracles. He died 1552 and his body was temporarily placed in a burial vault here for nine months. In December 1553 his remains were moved to Goa in India.

The marble statue of St. Francis Xavier.

His right forearm was used during his lifetime to bless and baptize his converts. In 1614 this was detached by Priest Gen.Claudio Acquaviva so it could be shipped to Rome. This was to allow the Pope to canonize (make a saint) St. Francis Xavier. Legend says that a miracle occurred and blood began to drip from the wound.

And there is an interesting story behind this marble statue.

The current white marble statue was installed on 22nd March, 1953 to commemorate pioneering missionary work across Southeast Asia while based at Melaka from 1545 to 1552. The next day a large Casuarinas tree fell and snapped off St. Francis Xavier’s right arm! So he has lost his right arm twice!

The Melaka River Cruise

     

The boat is going to departure and the rest of people are waitting for the next round of boat.

The Melaka river is a signature location in Melaka. It is a river which cut across Melaka town and separates the civic district clustered at the foot of St Paul's Hill, from the residential and commercial district of Heeren Street and Jonker Street. The visitors may have a try on the river cruise which last around 45 minutes. 

The passengers will departure on Muara Jetty, which is located at Jalan Laksamana, 75000 Melaka. It is just next to Quayside Heritage Centre and near the Maritime Musuem. The cost of taking river cuise is 10 ringgit for adult, and 5 ringgit for child if the passenger is a Mycard holder. For foreign passenger who does not hold Mycard, the cost will be 15 ringgit for adult and 7 ringgit for child.

The ticket of River Cruise

Muara Jetty in the morning.

Normally, the open hour is from 9am to 11:30pm. However, the boat will only departure after there is at least eight passengers.

Jonker Street

The Jonker Street which well known as "鸡场街" in Melaka.

The Jonker Street is a signature place to visit in Melaka. Most of the people will come to Jonker Street to enjoy Melaka local delights and also to shop. This street is also well known for the the weekend night market, but actually we can get most of the stuffs during the day too.

The Jonker Street during the day.

The weekend night market of Jonker Street.

There is a lot of interest things to buy in Jonker Street but the main task in Jonker Street will always be EAT!

A Taiwan sausage stand in Jonker Street.

There is a wide range of flavors for the sauces such as spicy, black pepper, honey lemon, curry and so on. Each of the sausage only at RM2.00 and all the sauces are DELICIOUS.

Make a guess which flavor are these two sausages are? 

Actually they are spicy and honey lemon flavor, and the only thing lacking is the spicy flavor is really be too WORTHY for its name!

The sparking juice is just on the right and it is not too sweet to drink . :)

Stay tune on our blog for more nice FOODS in the junker street night market!

St. Francis Xavier Church

St. Francis Xavier Church was once the largest church built by the Paris Foreign Missionary (also known as Missions étrangères de Paris or MEP) in the Malay Peninsula. The church was believed to be modelled after the Cathedral of St. Peter in Southern France, Montpellier, which followed closely the older church’s original construction, except for a portico which was later added in 1963.

To date, St Francis Xavier Church still serves its function as a Catholic church, with regular mass services being held from time to time. Having been around for more than a century, the church’s structure now leans slightly to the left.

The interior of the  St. Francis Xavier Church.

 The night view of the St. Francis Xavier Church.

Address: Jalan Laksamana, 75000 Melaka

Opening hours: 9.00a.m.- 5.30p.m.

Malacca Straits Mosque

The Malacca Straits Mosque is a mosque located on the man-made Malacca Island near Malacca Town in Malacca state. The Mosque is facing the Straits of Malacca. The construction cost of the mosque was about MYR10 million.

 

Melaka Straits Mosque is officiated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail on 24 November 2006. The mosque is currently administered by the Malacca Islamic Council.

The mosque, which was built using the mix of Middle Eastern and Malay craftsmanship, looks like a floating structure if the water level is high. This mosque showcase the excellence and glorious modern Islamic architecture. Apart from serving as a place of worship, it has also become a famous tourist destination.

This is one of the most beautiful mosque in Melaka. The mosque looks at its best during evening and night time with the glorious lighting. It is located within the city of Melaka. So, don't miss this tourist attraction if you happen to visit Melaka.

Address: Taman Pulau Melaka, 75000 Melaka