The sun was pretty high in the sky when we left Melaka Craft Centre, and it was time for a Guided Melaka Heritage Trail Tour. Sahabat Media were given about one hour and a half to tour around with our tourguide, so it was strictly a walking tour and no shopping stops whatsoever. Our walk began at the Dutch Square and ended at the Menara Taming Sari. And so, I grabbed a bottle of mineral water, shoved it into my faithful pink backpack and joined the crowd.
To be honest, it is quite fun playing tourist in my own country. Anyway, I won’t be writing about our Heritage Trail walk in details, but here’s sharing with you the landmarks we managed to drop by:
First stop was the Christ Church in the Dutch Square/Stadhuys Building. The Stadthuys can be easily found as it is just beside the Christ Church.
There is an old fountain in opposite of the church. This is the Queen Victoria Fountain. You can read about it in details in my old blogpost: Queen Victoria Fountain https://cleffairy.com/queen-victoria-fountain-malacca/ fountain was built in 1901 but does not look like it is more than a 100 years old.
Walking up the hill there is this….the St. Paul statue.
The Ruins of the St. Paul Church. St Paul’s Church is the church ruins that sit on the top of the St Paul’s Hill. The hill was originally named as Malacca Hill.The St Paul’s Church was originally a chapel and was known to the Portuguese in Malacca as the Chapel of Mother of God (Madre de Deus) or Our Lady of the Hill (Nossa Senhora do Oiteiro).
Here is how it looks like from the inside of the Ruins of the St. Paul Church.
Plenty of tombstones tablets are erected here on the church’s interior wall. Made me wonder if there is dead bodies resting beneath the ground of the church. My suspicion is confirmed. According to our tour guide,
After the Dutch’s Christ Church was completed, the St Paul’s Church no longer serves as a functional church but was turned into a burial ground.
The famous iconic Porta de Santiago more commonly known as A Famosa among the locals. The A Famosa is a fortress which was used in the war last time and has many historical values.
Istana Kesultanan Melaka. This is a replica of the Malacca Sultan’s palace during the Malacca Sultanate period.
Proclamation of Independence Square/Memorial. Malacca Proclamation of Independence Memorial displays records and photographs on the early history of the Malay Sultanate. It’s divided into several sections, the memorial also houses an extensive timeline covering the country’s journey to independence and the development of modern Malaysia.
Set up in 1912 in an elegant Dutch colonial mansion that used to house the Malacca Club making it the social centre of British colonial Melaka.
And last but not least, the Menara Taming Sari where we had our lunch and soon after, a ride up the gyro tower.
Melaka Tours.
If you are interested in history, I would definitely recommend this guided tour, as the tour guide will explain to you in details about the historical places and landmarks. I’m glad I joined this instead of straying that day, I learned much more than I could have in that one and a half hour than a few years studying the history books back in school.
Below is the price to the guided Melaka Heritage Trail Tour:
Day of Operations: Daily, 9am-2pm
Child : RM110
Adult: RM120
Includes: English speaking tour guide/transport by request.
The trip to Melaka was made possible by MMode, Santai Travel and Malaysia Tourism.