THE Unesco World Heritage Site of Melaka or Malacca is a historic city in Malaysia that has interesting historical structures and buildings. A popular trading port that brought the Chinese to its shores and conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, Melaka has a colorful mixture of various influences.
There are museums everywhere. Yet, you will also find malls and department stores in the city. And the good thing about Melaka is you can just walk a few blocks and see a lot of things.
Here are some activities you can do when you are in Melaka.
1. Ride the Taming Sari Tower
It’s nice to see the city from the top and what better way to appreciate the beauty of Melaka than to take the revolving ride at the Taming Sari Tower. From above, you will get a 360-degree view of the main city. You can also walk around the nearby park or shop some goodies at the Pahlawan Walk across the park.
2. Museum hop
There are over 30 museums in Melaka and you can just walk from one museum to another. Also within the vicinity of the museums are historic attractions like the A Famosa Fort, Ruins of St. Paul’s Church and the Christ Church. It’s interesting to know the various facets of history from literature to maritime to politics to beauty.
3. River cruise
One of the interesting activities to do in Melaka is the river cruise. We passed by the Red Building, the Stadthuys, the Church of St. Francis Xavier and pre-war buildings. There are beautiful murals that we passed by as we navigated the length of Melaka River. Another fascinating portion is Kampung Morten with the traditional houses. The bridges and the coffee shops by the river banks were also great sights to behold.
4. Ride the rickshaw
The rickshaws in Melaka are interesting. They are fabulously dressed with your favorite cartoon character. Famous ones are the Hello Kitty rides, but you can also find other designs like Frozen, Spiderman, Pikachu and shark. Some of them even have loud music (like the Frozen-themed rickshaw playing “Let It Go”) and they light up at night.
5. Explore Jonker Walk
There are plenty of night markets in Melaka. One of the popular ones is the Jonker Walk. There are several shops and eateries along Jonker Walk. You can try the various foods that are sold along this street. The buildings reminded me of the ones in Macau.
Accessible by bus from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, it is just about two hours by land from KL. There are also buses that ply the Melaka-Johor Bahru-Singapore route. Melaka also has an international airport that has flights to and from Penang and Pekanbaru (Indonesia).
All photos are by this author. Claire Marie Algarme blogs at http://firsttimetravels.com. Follow her as @firsttimetravel on Twitter and Instagram and like her Facebook page First-time Travels blog.