MALACCA

The Sultanate of Malacca was actually established by the last king of Singapura that became a strategic international trade center which attracted the interest of European colonial powers.

The Portuguese first colonized it in 1511, the Dutch wrested it from them in 1641 then ceded it to the British in 1824.

It is said that Malaysia's declaration of independence was first made in Malacca the night before the official proclamation was made in Kuala Lumpur's Merdeka Square on August 31, 1957.

Malacca is a last minute choice for the Malaysia leg of our 2022 holiday trip but since there is not really much to explore in Kuala Lumpur and it being inscribed with George Town as the Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca in the UNESCO World Heritage list, I decided to include it in our itinerary.

The Dutch Square featuring the colonial Stadthuys, the Protestant Christ Church and Queen Victoria’s Fountain is the core of the heritage site which is 80 percent of what we came for.

There is also St. Peter's Church that was built in 1710 and the oldest functioning Roman Catholic Church in Malaysia, restored parts of the Middleburg Bastion and a smaller replica of the Flor de la Mar, a 16th century Portugues galleon.

We also climbed up the ruins of the Church of St. Paul, first built by the Portuguese in 1521 and site of St. Francis Xavier's temporary burial, reconsecrated as a Dutch High Church and later used as a powder magazine by the British.   

An there was Jack Sparrow at what remained of the Portuguese fortress of A Famosa, and the Malacca Sultanate Palace Museum that was also closed to the public like the churches of St. Peter and Christ Church. 

We shared a Peranakan meal with a Korean family then concluded our day in Malacca at Jonker Street, Malacca's Chinatown where we walked through temples and a mosque, bought two egg tarts, a kilo of gula perang or Malaysian brown sugar and spent an hour killing cold milk tea at Old Day Old Taste Kopitiam.

And that's all there is of our day in Malacca.