Malaysia: Melaka - Portuguese heritage and lots of nice restaurants
- Where To Go Next By I&P
- Jan 10, 2023
- 3 min read
Melaka is one of the main cities between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and has some remains of Portuguese heritage from a 150 years-period of Portuguese occupation in the 16th - 17th century.
Melaka (in Malay) or Malacca (in English) is weirdly complicated to reach by train, as the closest train station is 40km away from the city. So we decided to experience the Malaysian intercity bus system.
From KL Sentral, we had to take the KLIA regional train (10MYR/pax) to catch the bus at Terminal Bersepadu Selatan or TBS. Gosh, Malaysians love acronyms - they should work for my company! 😜
Once there, we had to exchange the online vouchers for tickets. We were so surprised by the number of people and the size of the terminal - it was like arriving at an airport terminal, with check-in counters, departure boards and boarding gate info.
After 2 quick hours (and 11 MYR/pax), we arrived at Melaka's bus terminal, which resembles a sort of an indoor market with shops and stands.
We then took a public bus (bus 17) to the city center for 1.5 MYR/pax.
The city itself, in contrast with KL, is very flat with mainly 3 storey buildings and some tall buildings here and there. We were expecting to see a small, quiet town but when we reached the city center's main street - Jonker Street, we could not believe how many tourists were walking around or queuing for the same restaurants and street vendors! It was really overcrowded and, what is weird is that only one side of the street has a sidewalk so everyone is on the same sidewalk or on the street itself with all the traffic.
After lunch, we found a place with a shorter line than usual (timing is everything 😁) and got some Puri Piring, a local coconut delicacy for dessert: 😋
The other main street in Melaka, on the other side of the river, features red painted buildings such as a church and a museum. The main square is the Red Square - I am sure visiting Muscovites must feel at home! 😜
Local Tuk Tuk drivers were hanging there with their vehicles decorated with Hello Kitties, Spiderman and Pikachu, flashing lights and loud music.
Another attraction is the Riverside walk. People enjoy a less stuffy weather in Melaka and having a drink in front of the river while watching the boats pass by is a delightful activity.
The following day, we decided to take a boat tour on one of those boats. We knew it was a tourist trap but it was a fun way to enjoy the morning. For 30MYR/pax, we had a 40min round trip on the river with some nice bridges and murals... but that is pretty much it, as we could not hear the historical facts because of lousy speakers and very loud passengers.
After the boat ride, we took again bus 17 to go to the Portuguese Settlement, an area of Melaka where descendants of Portuguese remain to this day.
Not a lot to do there except eating at 2 pseudo Portuguese restaurants with no actual Portuguese food. Or maybe it's because we could not understand the names of the dishes in Kristang, the creole language of Portuguese/Dutch/Malaccan descendants. It was so interesting to discover that the Portuguese language has evolved and mixed with local languages there.
On the way back to the city center, we went to the fortress of A Famosa. This fortress was built by the Portuguese during their time there, and was expanded by the Dutch, who ousted the Portuguese from the area. It was destroyed by the British in the 18th century and only the Gate of Santiago remains.
Despite being overcrowded, Melaka is definitively a nice city to visit for 2 days, for the red square, the river walk but especially for the well decorated restaurants.
We went to have lunch at the Baboon House and dinner at Peranakan restaurant. Peranakan are descendants of Chinese and Malays, so they have a very nice cuisine!
The following day we took the bus to Singapore! We STRONGly recommend visiting Melaka! 😂💪
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