It made perfect sense to start our DIY walking tour from the Dutch Square going up to Stadthuys. It was an easy climb, as the walkway uphill is paved, to St. Paul's Church and an easy descent from there to A Fomosa Fort. Had we reversed our starting point, we would have to climb many, many stairs to reach St. Paul's.
Anyway, the A Famosa Fort looks more like a small chapel rather than a fort. Well, like St. Paul's Church, it is in ruins and only a small portion remains. And, as with St. Paul's, I fell in love with it, too. I don't know but I'm quite fascinated with ruins. I find ruins quite lovely; ethereal but melancholy. I like to touch every stone possible, perhaps even cling onto those stones for a while. Literally, it's touching history with one's finger tips.
I don't know much about A Famosa except that it's old dating back to the 1500s and that what remains is a small gateway of some sorts. Well, all I can say is that it's achingly beautiful against the late afternoon sun.
My mother and I just walked around until we reached a park with old trains and aircrafts in open display. It was teeming with people.
This one is really cute. You sit down on it and pedal, like a bike, as shown above.
Then, we got out of the park, just wandering aimlessly until we reached Dataran Pahlawan, Melaka Megamall. As it name suggests, it is a shopping mall and its name stuck with me because of "pahlawan", like the Philippine's "Palawan" province, and "Megamall", like our own "SM Megamall." We saw a McDonald'sand had our snacks there. I wanted to eat chicken with rice but they only serve spicy chicken without the rice.
After taking a break, I dragged my mother to the sort of galleon ship I've been seeing from a distance. It's an attraction, included in the Maritime Museum, and the entrance fee you'll pay will be good for 3 attractions/places. I forgot how much I paid for the tickets. We didn't check the other parts because I was lazy.
Anyway, footwear is not allowed to be worn inside the wooden ship. Don't worry; you'll be given a plastic bag for your shoes or sandals so you could carry it with you (if you're not comfortable without your designer shoes near you), or you could just leave it at the designated storage place. If you want to reach the topmost deck, you'll have to climb into a very steep staircase. It's easy going down but it's trickier going down as the steps are placed quite far apart.
After my Capt. Jack Sparrow moments on deck, my mother and I started walking back to our hotel. This time we took the river side where we found a couple having their nuptial pictures. The groom was wearing a mariachi-esque suit and the bride was in a layered gown with lots of ruffles. The bride was so pretty!
All I can say is, lucky guy!
Our last stop was the Melaka Fort. There really isn't much to see, except perhaps the river behind it. Anyway, the you can find the Melaka Tourist Information Office in there.
In ruins, too.
This cannon looks fairly new. A replica, I suppose.
Riverside! It's clean and there are ares where you could sit and enjoy the sunset.
The famous Hereen House
Wondering how Melaka got iss name? This tells it all:
Caption says:"Parameswara looking at how one of his hunting dogs thrown into river after being vivaciously [it really says 'vivaciously'!]kicked by a white mouse deer. Later on, he named his empire "Lelaka" after the tree Pokok Melaka in which he was sitting under."
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