Welcome back to Melaka, Malaysia. That’s the Melaka River on my left there. The Strait of Malacca is like half a kilometer or more behind me. And today’s video for me is all about putting Melaka into geographic perspective, because when I was here last time, I went out to a bunch of museums reading up on the history of Melaka. That’s my main interest in the city. And I was confused by all the maps that I saw. I would see all these historic maps and they would show in particular the Portuguese fort. So the Portuguese conquered Melaka back in 1511 and then they built a walled fortress city and there’s a lot of remnants of that fortress still here. It’s often called A Famosa for the whole fortress. And I was looking at all these maps and I would see the wall of the fortress going right along the shore like the Strait of Malacca behind me. So you’ve got this walled fortress with all these bastions and they’re bristling with cannons and I’m looking around me going like where are the cannons pointing? Because the cannons were pointing inland and I thought, well, why are the cannons here? I thought they were defending against ships out in the ocean. And then over time, I slowly realized that my understanding of all of Melaka’s geography, the Melaka River, the Strait of Malacca, the A Famosa fortress, the hill, all of that was completely wrong. Why? Because of land reclamation. And that was the key to all of my misunderstanding, in that the shore of the land where it met the Strait of Malacca has been moving outward constantly. So in fact, where you see the shore today is like a kilometer away from where the shore was back when Melaka was a world trading center. And that’s kind of what I’m investigating today. I’m going to be walking around the perimeter of the fortress as far as I understand it and try to get it straight in my head. It’s like, okay, where exactly was this in reality back in 1511, back in the 1600s? So, anyway, that’s what I’m doing today. And I’m walking along the Melaka River right now. And I’m heading towards the heart of all of this, which is the Dutch square. Red Dutch Square, Dutch Square, and the Middelburg Bastion. And that is going to be my starting point. So there it is. This is the heart and soul of my journey today, kind of learning about the history of Melaka. So that is the Middelburg Bastion. And this is actually a recreation by the way. I think they built it in 2006. They found the foundations of this part of the fort right here. They dug down, uncovered the foundation and then rebuilt it as it was in the past. So this is the Middelburg fortress, the Middelburg Bastion, one of the key defensive points of A Famosa. And if we come down here to some of the historic maps, perhaps you can see what it is I’m talking about. So where we are is right here. So this would be where the Middelburg Bastion was located, right? So I mean, let’s take a look at this right now. So there’s a cannon. And when I visited this place before, I was looking at that cannon and then there were a whole bunch of cannons on this side. They’re all bristling out of this side of the fort. I mean, look at that. And where are they aiming? I was wondering. Like they’re aiming at this river. And like any naval unit or a ship that comes up here, they’re like sitting ducks, right? And all these cannons are basically aiming at this river. And somehow the geography didn’t make any sense to me because the ocean is way down there. You see that highway over there? There’s a big bridge. The actual Strait of Malacca is more than a kilometer in that direction. That’s where the water is. And I couldn’t figure this out for the longest time until I started doing some dedicated research and then I realized that back in the days when this fort was built, this is where the water was. So in fact, all of these cannons are aiming right out into the Strait of Malacca and they’re defending the mouth of the river right here. So there’s Middelburg. This is where we are now. And this is where the mouth of the river is located. So when you look at this map strategically, everything makes more sense. And then that’s when the light bulb went off for me. It was like, “Ah, now I get it.” So this is where the shore was right here. And this is where all the wall was built, right along the shore. As you can see right here, it’s right on the water. And we’re going to be walking along here today. And then it goes inland and then back to the river. And in fact, there was another moat like a canal, a kind of a river dug by the Portuguese, the Dutch, I think, and the British that went all the way around. So it was a very, very heavily fortified position with water on all sides and the wall was right along the water’s edge. And yet when you come here as a tourist you’re looking around it’s like well where’s the water? This in history all of this was water and the fort went in this direction. So the wall of the fort went off like that and everything to our right, all of that was water. That was the Strait of Malacca, which I find absolutely fascinating.
Middelburg Bastion right behind me. And the other thing that I got totally wrong about Melaka was a sense of scale. Maybe I was being tricked by so many movies that I watch where you have a fortress like a walled city and you imagine a huge city with a wall going all the way around the city where all the people live. But Melaka, the A Famosa fort built by the Portuguese, I don’t think it was really like that at all. In fact, it’s much smaller than you imagine. So I was doing some measurements and I believe from here the Middelburg Bastion up to the farthest point of the wall heading inland is about half a kilometer. It’s really not that far at all because the Melaka fortress, the walled fortress was built around the heart of the administrative and government centers as a fortified position. And the population for the most part lived on the other side of the river. So right over here is Dutch Square and then the hill up there and then the fortress wall circled the hill. So the hill was the key to the fortified position because it was a lookout point and the wall went around that hill basically back to the river and then followed the river. But the majority of the people, they had to cross this bridge and other bridges and they lived over here. So that was where most of the population lived on the other side of the river and Melaka, the A Famosa fort was more of a defensible fortified position. So again looking in this direction you can see the tower there. That’s where my hotel is and that’s where the observation tower is. All of that used to be water. So none of that was land back in the historical days when this fort was built. So this is the heart of it all, the square, the Dutch square. And up there is the hill. Today is a Friday, by the way. So it’s going to get pretty busy today and busier tomorrow. I kind of planned it that way to go out walking around today when it’s busy. I kind of like being here when there’s all kinds of other visitors. Kind of brings the city to life. So, what I’m going to do now is just walk along the river in this direction and this would be where the fortress wall would have gone. So, as I said, the fortress wall went around the hill and then all of these government buildings were built inside the protection of the wall and then the majority of the population, they actually lived out in that direction. But I want to follow the river and get to the furthest point where the wall ended. So the wall would follow the river, end up there, and then turn inland and then go back to the Strait of Malacca. And I think what’s going to be surprising for me is how close it is, that again in my mind I was imagining this massive fortress wall. But as significant as it was to the Portuguese, to the history of Malaya, it really was not as big as I was imagining it was. But yeah, this of course is a modern Melaka.
All of the places where you can get good food, good drinks along the river. A lot of museums, lot of hotels.
I’ve never tried to walk along the river in this direction so far. I’ve gone around on my bicycle, but I don’t think I’ve tried to stick right to the river’s edge on foot. So, we’ll see if that’s possible. And hopefully you’re not bored of looking at maps in a video yet because I just found another one here that really drives it home as well. So, right here is St. Paul’s Church. So, that’s the top of the hill. And then right down here is the Porta de Santiago. So that is the last original remaining piece of the fortified wall right here. And you can see how far away it is from the Strait of Malacca. All of this from this point down, this all used to be water. So in fact, when the Portuguese built their fort, this is where they built it, this circular area right here. So this was basically fortified A Famosa just here and then all of this was water. Even around here, this was all water. So it was a very, very different layout back then. I really love this city. I could spend forever here just hanging out. I really love towns that manage to maintain their waterways. Like rather than just having all of the riverside blocked by commercial buildings and private ownership here, they’ve managed to keep it wide open. So on this side of the river, look at that. Just a beautiful walkway, two levels actually. And then even on the other side, look at that. All open, all these businesses along there. Look at that little… I looked into these before I saw them in Kuala Lumpur. They actually have in Malaysia these otters. You can see the otter down there in the river. There’s two of them, a pair.
I’m not much of a night owl, so I often miss out on a lot of the nightlife. I tend to be out and about in the early morning hours, daytime hours, but you can see everything here is pretty much closed. But I should come back here in the evening just to see all of the lights and the music and all the people. Maybe I’ll do that Saturday night when it’s going to be the busiest.
Yeah, it’s an incredible riverfront that they have here. And I’ve been walking for what feels like just a few seconds. Just a few minutes at most. Two or three minutes. And I believe I’ve already reached the end of the fortress itself. I believe this is another bastion. I think this is the Bastion St. Domingo. I’m going to have… maybe they’ll have, I’m sure they’ll have a sign here somewhere marking this spot. And this is where the fort ended along the river and then it turned inland in that direction going down to Santiago. Yeah, this is a very famous spot inside Melaka. I think a lot of people end up taking photos or video of this giant wall with the mural, but here they’ve uncovered the foundations for the bastion that used to be here. And of course, as I talked about in previous videos, the fort itself, the original fort was built by the Portuguese, kind of expanded and maintained by the Dutch. But during the British period when the British controlled Melaka, they tore it all down. So they blew up and tore down the entire wall, the fortress except for one gate, Santiago, which we’re going to go take another look at today. Yeah, it’s fascinating. And of course, my favorite thing in the whole world, laterite. I just find laterite fascinating stuff. All of these walls were built out of laterite, dug out of the ground, shaped into squares, and then it hardens and becomes a perfect building brick.
Oh, maybe I got my name wrong. This is Bastion… Oh, Bastion Victoria. Yeah, that was another name for it. The British name. They called it Bastion Victoria, but I think the original name from the Portuguese was different. It’s probably on that sign there. Let’s go down there.
There’s the main sign for this ruin, Bastion Victoria. And there is their helpful guide for people who are photographically challenged. It’s telling you that this is a good place to take a picture. And that is the photo that you would get and they have the history here and it does echo what I was talking about, that it is called the Bastion Victoria but under the Portuguese it was called St. Domingo. So it was the St. Domingo bastion. And I didn’t know this, but it looks like this particular bastion was one of the keys to the Dutch conquering Melaka, where the Dutch fought the Portuguese and they broke through into the interior. It looks like through this bastion, the Dutch entrance caused huge damage to the fort and then it looks like the Dutch began digging the moat. So when the Dutch broke through at this point, I guess they realized that it was a little bit of a weak point. So they built it up and they fortified it and then they built that moat that I was talking about. So right here is where the fort turned away from the river, turned inland, and then they went all the way around it with a moat. So they dug a canal. And of course the Dutch would have been very, very good at digging canals and they dug the canal all the way around the fort heading back to the Strait of Malacca. The old and the new. Talking about the old, here are some new in Melaka. This is pretty incredible. This is a solar powered garbage bin, a smart bin. And I didn’t really understand what that meant, but I think what happens is it compresses the garbage. So, you put your garbage in as normal. Don’t put your hands in there too far, I guess. And then using solar power, I guess there’s solar panels up on top there recharging it. And then it would compress. There’s a paddle down below. Oh, okay. Ah, the paddle opens the door. That’s cool. I thought maybe you could activate the compression, but no. I guess the compression happens automatically based on timers and sensors. But there you go. Modern Melaka, a solar powered garbage can. And if you’re doing a tour of Melaka, this is a very good place to remember the Church of St. Francis Xavier. This marks the most inland point of the wall. So if you’re near this church, this is where the fort wall would have gone by. Right here, right beside this bastion. So let’s see if this sign here adds any more. Oh, they got a good map. Okay, I already read through the top and it actually just repeats what the other sign says, but they have a very interesting map here where they have the fort overlaid on top of a modern relatively modern map of Melaka. So this is the fort itself. We are here at St. Domingo or Victoria Bastion. And this is where we started down here at Middelburg. And you can see how short the distance is. And then the fort goes inland and then down back to the Strait of Malacca. And I guess the point that I’ve been hammering away at is that this would have all been water. So this side of the fort was following the Strait of Malacca all through here and then all along here and this was the entrance to the river. So all of this land, everything you see here, it didn’t exist back in the days when this fort was built.
I feel like I’m shouting. Every time I shoot a video in Southeast Asia, I end up shouting cuz I’m trying to hear myself over the sound of all the angle grinders. It’s the… there’s always so much construction and angle grinders. This the music of Southeast Asia. But yeah, there’s another look at the laterite in the foundations of Bastion Victoria. Yeah, pretty amazing. So, if I was going to be going all the way around the old outline of the fort, I would head off in this direction, but there isn’t much left. Like in this direction, the old moat was filled in, so you can’t follow the moat anymore, and there’s no clear indication of where the fort was. So, what I’m going to do is go back along the river and then cut inland towards the Porta de Santiago. And that is the last remaining part of the original fort, the very famous, they call it A Famosa today as a tourist attraction, but in fact, A Famosa was the name of the entire fortress.
This is always something interesting to me as a Canadian. I always think of Canada as occupying this tiny part of the world. Nobody ever notices us. Nobody talks about us. So whenever I see a reference to Canada out in the world, I get very excited. So I guess somehow UNESCO based in Quebec, Canada was involved in creating this. There you go. A little nod to Canada out here in historic Melaka.
So I’m just going to walk back along the river. And yeah, it’s not a very long walk. You can see the bridge right there. That bridge basically is the other end of the fort. So if you were walking from this bastion, Bastion Victoria, the wall goes down to that bridge and just on the other side it goes, that’s where the shore is. That’s where the shore used to be. Pretty amazing. I keep hammering away at this point because I find it so fascinating and it answers so many of my questions of how I found Melaka to be confusing on my last visit because none of the maps made any sense to me. But everything is becoming clear.
Yeah, Melaka is the whole package really. Beautiful city, modern comforts and pleasures, hotels, restaurants, cafes, and then all this history on top of that. Yeah, as a world city to come visit this place, it’s kind of a no-brainer. Here goes one of the many river boats. I’m filming them. They’re filming me.
And then right on the other side of the river there, if you look down that alleyway, look at all of those back streets, traditional like Dutch shop houses, Portuguese architecture, buildings, and styles going all the way back to the Melaka Sultanate. Just an amazing city. It really is.
And I’m not sure I’ve seen references to draw bridges. Like the original bridge here of course would have been made out of wood, would not have been a modern steel structure, but I think I’ve seen them referred to as draw bridges and that might have been part of the fortifications of Melaka as well, that maybe the bridge could have been raised and lowered as a drawbridge. I’m not really sure about that though. Never occurred to me to look into that. But look at those two trees on either side of that bridge. Very scenic, very picturesque. And right over here is Dutch Square.
I’m up on the bridge now, the one I was just talking about, looking inland going up the Melaka River. And right there where the river bends, that very first bend, that’s the end of the fort right there. And again, contrasting the old and the new, we’ve got the Mamee Monster right here. Since my last visit, I learned that the Mamee Monster actually has a real connection with Melaka. This is the Mamee Monster’s hometown. This is where the Mamee Monster was born. So, it makes sense that you see him everywhere.
Pro tip, by the way. If you’re looking at Google Maps or any other tourism map and you see that the Melaka Tourism Office is located here, well, don’t make my mistake. I thought that was it over there. Like, I thought tourism office. Oh, there it is. It even has a tourism sign board right there. So, I went into that building thinking, “Oh, this is the tourism office.” And I’m wandering around, but it turns out the top floor, that’s a prayer hall. So, yeah, it’s a prayer hall, not the tourism office. This is the tourism office. This little shack here. So, don’t get those two confused like I did. That was pretty funny. But yeah, getting back to being oriented. Here is the Melaka River. The mouth of the river would have been right there. The Middelburg Bastion is right there. And here is Dutch Square with the Stadthuys right there. And I got to cross over here quickly.
And this is the other side of where the original wall would have been. Let me wait till I get around the corner here and it will make more sense. But anyway, this is not the tourism office. That is a prayer room up there. So all right, another… this one actually it gives an even bigger perspective which might make it quite clear that this green area here, that is essentially the original fortified city. The fortress was right here and the water was right here. But then all of this land is brand new land. All of this has been reclaimed. Very, very cool. But anyway, I’ve shown enough maps, right?
So, getting back to walking the perimeter. So, here is Middelburg Bastion. One of the most important fortified positions cuz this one was guarding the mouth of the river. So it was preventing enemy fleets from sailing up the river. They were aiming their cannons right out over the Strait of Malacca at enemy boats. That was the whole point here. And then the wall, the fortified wall went from here following this street. So this is Jalan Kota I think. And if you walk along Jalan Kota, you are retracing the original path of the Portuguese fortress A Famosa. So we’re heading away from the river and we’re going to follow this street right here. As soon as you leave from Middelburg Bastion, you’re crossing this very busy road. A lot of traffic. None of that would have been here back in the 1500s and 1600s, of course. And then the water would have curved inland here. And the first thing we come across is another bastion. So this one was named the bastion Frederick Hendrik by the Dutch. And it was named after King Hendrik who was ruling the Netherlands from 1642 to 47. But I believe under the Portuguese it had a different name, but I’m not sure what that name was. But I’m fighting with modern Melaka again. There’s the other soundtrack of Southeast Asia, the weed whacker. We got the angle grinder and the weed whacker. But anyway, this was another heavily fortified bastion connected by a short piece of wall to the Middelburg Bastion. And then the wall would continue inland in this direction.
And I think to understand Melaka and the Portuguese, everything is about this hill and the location of the hill relative to the water. So when the Portuguese arrived here, like during the time of the Melaka Sultanate, this hill was right on the water. So this hill was overlooking the Strait of Malacca. So when the Portuguese took over, they said, “Hey, this is an amazing fortified position. This hill, which is right on the shore, let’s build a wall around it.” So that’s essentially what they did. They started with Bukit Melaka and then they built a fortified wall all the way around the hill.
I’m walking along this road which goes around the base of the hill. And this is the Stadthuys behind me. And this whole section of road by the way is filled with museums. There’s all kinds of interesting smaller museums here. This is the Museum Islam Melaka. It’s Friday today, so it could probably be closed today. And then another, there’s a museum shop here and museum after museum all around this stretch of the road. And if you’re thinking in terms of history, imagine going back to the 15 and 1600s. As you’re walking along here, on your left, I believe, would have been the fortified wall. So, you’ve got the wall on your left and then on your right, you would see the ocean. So, basically right here, you’ve got the fortress on the left and then you’ve got waves lapping the shore, docks, boats coming in for trading, pulling up to the docks all along here. So, it would have looked completely different back in the days of the Portuguese and the Dutch.
I wasn’t aware of this, but they did some excavation right here. Right up here is where I was just talking, and there’s like a children’s park right here, a little playground. And this marks a spot where they excavated more of the fortress wall. And of course, I’m starting to shout louder and louder again because I got all this construction going on. There goes the rising tower, the platform on the tower, and I’m not sure how exposed it is. I haven’t come down here before, so this is all new to me. And I’m wondering whether the section of the fort that they uncovered… I mean the top part of the fort of course was completely destroyed by the British but they let a lot of the foundation remain in the ground. They didn’t tear out the foundations entirely. So as they’ve been doing excavations maybe it’s up here. Looks like this might be a historical site up here. This might be where they exposed the foundations of the fort.
Not really sure. No, maybe not.
Well, got some history here, though.
The other modern aspect of Melaka. I keep having to turn off my camera because these discos on wheels keep going by. They have some quite loud music at times. There’s a whole… yeah, whole bunch of them. A herd of them coming around.
Hello Kitty is a pretty popular theme. Batman, Spider-Man. Some ponies over there. My Little Pony, I guess.
So, but anyway, I was talking about this place. There’s the children’s playground right over there. And the fort ruins were uncovered somewhere around here. And it’s right across the road from the people’s museum. And I’ve never been here before either, but this place is called Laman Pangkalan Pengangkutan, translated as Transportation Courtyard. So it has an old diesel locomotive and coach and a Royal Malaysian Air Force aircraft and a fire engine which we can see here. So, if you’re a fan of locomotives and trains, here’s a bit of history for you.
The Malaysian Railway. I don’t know how old these are. Very cool.
And there’s the aircraft, beautifully restored. The engine here at the front suffered a bit of damage, but yeah, quite beautiful, very shiny.
And I’m still looking for the remains of the fort wall. And I think that’s what this sign up here is going to be all about. I’m just trying to get a sense of the relative position of the old fortress compared to the Stadthuys. So here it is here. Okay. So this is where they uncovered the ruins of Bastion Moritz. So another bastion was located here. So right here now we’re standing on the outside of the wall and this would have been the protective interior there. You can see St. Paul’s Church up there. So the Stadthuys is over here. So this is the area that the Portuguese were fortifying and this would have been the wall and right here would have been the Strait of Malacca. So all through here, this we would have been looking out over the water, looking out at all the boats, the trading vessels from all around the world would have filled the waterways here, docks, boats loading and unloading. Yeah, fascinating to contrast that with how it looks today. Beautiful city. Really is.
I didn’t realize it had so many of these parks with these amazing trees. Look at that tree.
Oh, and I guess this was the fire engine that they mentioned as well. So, this is Transportation Courtyard and you get a two for one tourism package here. You get transportation, fire engine, and then the train. And you get the remains of the fortress wall right in amongst these amazing trees. Yeah. Amazing spot right here.
Even though I’ve now got the geography firmly stuck in my head, I understand it now. Even I’m being surprised by how compact the original fortress was because I just left from the children’s playground and the Transportation Courtyard, that little piece of the exposed foundations and the bastion is just a few feet behind me and already we’re at Bastion Santiago. So, a lot of people get a little bit confused about this because that gate over there on Google Maps and in all the tourism documents, it’s called A Famosa. So, when you’re looking for this place, you’re actually looking for something called A Famosa. But in reality, A Famosa was the name of the entire fortress. This was just one gate entering into the wall and into the fortress itself. And I believe it’s called the Gate of Santiago, like Porta de Santiago right there. And again, not to belabor the point, but right here there would have been docks. So you’ve got the wall, the gate. This is the gate through which all the people trading their goods and services would have entered. So this is where all this… this would have all been water and the trading boats would have come up through the Strait of Malacca on the water. They would have docked here, stepped off their boat and then walked into the fort and into the city. The water was right here, which is kind of interesting. And here we have some more exposed ruins right here. All the laterite. So the wall was coming from that direction, came to this point and then turned heading towards the gate and then went in a straight line from here right up into where we were earlier at St. Domingo, basically following the shoreline all the way up there. So this is the Santiago Bastion and it’s just a short distance away from the Santiago Gate. So that’s a distinction between the two. Santiago Gate and then right beside it, the Santiago Bastion. And look at that. This is quite unusual, very different from the others that we’ve seen. You can see how far underground the walls of the bastion went. And you can see the curved nature of the wall around the outside of the bastion. So it was all torn down at ground level, but that section would have been underground. And you can see how far it went that way. Yeah. This whole area, like this bastion wasn’t discovered until 2002. They were building in this area and they started digging and then they… you know, to build buildings. I think they were building this structure over here and then they were doing some work here, construction work and they uncovered part of the wall. So it was all preserved and then excavated. So this is all part of the Santiago bastion and they built this walkway over top of it which is very cool.
Looking up at Bukit Melaka and St. Paul’s Church. And right at the base, of course, is one of the most famous sites in Melaka. Certainly one of the most impressive sites. The first time I saw this, I was surprised at the detail in the carvings on the outside and at how high it was and how thick the wall was. So, this is the Porta de Santiago. Yeah, the Santiago Gate. So this would have been one of the openings in the outer fortress wall. And as I said, the water would have been right here and all the trading boats would dock here and people would be streaming in and out of this gate to go into Melaka. And then here are some of the cannons. And again, you look at these cannons and then it’s sort of like, hey, what are they aiming at? Because over here there’s nothing but hotels and shopping malls. So it’s like, huh? So, I guess they’re shooting at, you know, what are they shooting at? But, of course, none of that existed and none of that was land. This was all water. So, all of the cannons that were mounted here were aiming directly over the water.
And I talked about this in my other videos, but I can’t stop thinking about it, that this is the only piece of the original fortress that remained intact like above ground, the only piece and it is so impressive. So, can you imagine if the entire fortress had been preserved like this and still existed today? It would have been, you know, one of the wonders of the world. One of the historical wonders of the world to be honest, if this entire fort still existed as it was built originally. Can you imagine something like this going all the way around Melaka?
Again, when you’re reading about the history, you don’t really understand about all the carvings. Like I didn’t even know there were all these elaborate carvings on the gates and on the walls.
Very interesting historical sign here about the Porta de Santiago. There it is right there. So the sign it says it’s one of four main gateways into the fortress of A Famosa. Yeah. And a lot of the historical signs here and the information boards talk about the construction of the fort and how of course when the Melaka Sultanate had many buildings here. The of course the Sultanate palace, the great mosque, other buildings like that. And during the fight with the Portuguese, when the Portuguese conquered Melaka, a lot of those buildings were destroyed, set on fire and then they were torn down and the material that was used to build the great mosque and the Sultanate palace. All these buildings were taken and used to construct the Portuguese buildings. So, my original plan for today was to end my walking tour like going around the original location of the fortress. I was going to end it here at the Sultanate Palace Museum and I was going to go in for a tour of the museum, but again, my timing is not great because it is a Friday and the Sultanate Palace is not open on a Friday, I guess. Yeah, it’s closed. But what I find interesting is that this is a replica of the original Sultanate palace, you know, based on historical records, but it wasn’t located here, I don’t believe. I read on one document like something on the internet was talking about how the Sultanate Palace was actually up on the top of the hill and then it was torn down by the Portuguese and they replaced it with St. Paul’s Cathedral, but other things that I’ve read contradict that. They say that the Sultanate Palace was just on the other side of the hill. So, it was located more around what today is, you know, Dutch Square and Middelburg Bastion, sort of in that area, but then it was torn down during the fighting and the Portuguese takeover and all the material from the palace was used to build Portuguese buildings. But when they rebuilt it as a museum, they sited it here. So it is still within the historic district. And again, all of this, this huge square, everything you see around me, all of this would have been water. You know, I would have been instead of walking right now, I would have been swimming back in the days of the 1500s and 1600s.
And since the museum is closed, I thought to end my walking tour today, perhaps it’s a good idea to revisit Melaka Hill and St. Paul’s Church. St. Paul’s. Yeah, St. Paul’s. Up on the top of the hill.
I’m up at the top of Melaka Hill now, standing right at the base of St. Paul’s Church. Very impressive structure. All made out of my favorite material, laterite. And kind of drives home the thesis, the theme of this video to be up here cuz way out there you can see the Strait of Malacca with the boats. That’s where the water is today. You can see a highway going out and then in this direction you don’t see any water at all. And yet historically we would have been looking right out over the Strait of Malacca right here. The water would have been right here filled with trading boats, shipping boats, naval military boats. This would have been a very busy waterway with docks and the fort wall would have been going right along the base of this hill. So yeah, an amazing piece of history.
And I talked about St. Paul’s Church in my I think in one of my last videos from my previous visit to Melaka. So, we don’t have to do a deep dive into this place. But yeah, it’s worth taking a second look at at least briefly since I’m here. Look at the height of the wall. That is amazing considering how it was built.
And it’s very famous, of course, for the elaborate tombstones that are lined up all along the walls like these ones here. All of them going back centuries.
And here in the interior, the main building, yeah, the walls are lined with these tombstones.
Yeah, it’s one of the most interesting sites that I’ve seen anywhere in Malaysia, to be honest.
I love the rounded arches up on the tops of the windows.
And a lot of these, they actually have signs in English identifying exactly who was buried here. So this is Manuel Dumulin, chief merchant and harbor master, born 1620, died 1660. 39 years, 7 months. Amazing that he has this marker for his grave site.
I think most visitors walking through St. Paul’s looking at the tombstones would have the same reaction, the same realization that I had is how young everybody was. I looked just about at every one of these marked tombstones has the birth date and then the day they passed away and the ages range from 1 year old, 9 years old and I don’t think I saw a single one here more than 40 years old. They all… like the adults who passed away and are buried here, they’re all between 30 and 40 years old. That was as long as they lived. But yeah, that really stands out to someone like me, you know, living in year 63 of my life. And I’ve been living, you know, 23 years longer at this point than the oldest person that I’ve seen dating from the 1600s. Yeah, it’s pretty wild. And at 63 years old, I feel like I’ve barely begun to live, right? And I’ve already far outlived everyone here.
Beautiful view from the front of St. Paul’s Church from the hill up here.
Yeah. I started thinking about all this reclaimed land originally because my hotel is in there. You see that big cluster of similar looking buildings beneath the tower. Like I didn’t… I was curious about the history of that area because the buildings look so uniform. And that’s when I found out that that is all reclaimed land where my hotel sits. All of that would have been underwater back in the heyday of Melaka. And over there is the maritime museum with that big ship. And it looks like it’s sitting beside the river, but where it’s sitting now, it would have been sitting out in the middle of the Strait of Malacca. It’d be floating on the water out there. Very interesting.
There’s a statue I believe dedicated to St. Francis Xavier just outside of the church itself. There you get a beautiful view of the whole church.
It’s incredible and a good deal for visitors like me that access to Melaka Hill and St. Paul’s Church, probably the key attraction here in Melaka, is completely open free to the public. There’s no entrance fee to come up here to see the church.
Got some wind and dark clouds moving in. So, my walking tour of the Portuguese fortress of Melaka, my timing is pretty good. It’s just about coming to an end just before the rain hits.
Melaka, such a great town to visit. Right up there is St. Paul’s Church. That’s the tower, the white structure right there, Melaka Hill. And then down here is the Stadthuys built by the Dutch. Dutch Square right over there. Jonker Street right across the road. There’s the Middelburg Bastion. You see how close together everything is. And then everywhere you go, you come across interesting bits of history from all different time periods going back to the 1500s. And then of course previous to the 1500s, the Melaka Sultanate going on and on for millennia. And then right around the corner, check this out. Old fire engine truck from 1939. It started its life here in Melaka. And then in 1942, the British brought it to Singapore. And then the Japanese were in control of Singapore. And then eventually the fire truck made its way back to Melaka, put out a couple of more fires here. And now it’s a part of history. An amazing vehicle. Look at that. All of the original dials, gauges, and controls still there. And then even an Oliver bulldozer dating from pre-World War II to clear land for rubber plantations. Never heard of that brand. Oliver. Look at that.
So yeah, little bits of history all over Melaka and then even bits of modern history. I noticed that hotel before, Aldi Hotel, looks completely closed, you know, abandoned already. There are quite a few modern buildings in Melaka that seem to have been abandoned. Even an entire shopping mall right downtown that appears to be completely empty. So yeah, you get every piece of history you can imagine here in Melaka. Very cool town.
I’ve come full circle on this video and this seems like a pretty appropriate place to draw it to a close. As I said, I just wanted to take a walk around Melaka and take all this information that I’ve gathered from reading and looking at maps. This idea of where the fortress walls used to be located exactly, you know, related to the reclaimed land and all of that. I just wanted to see it in real life, see it with my own eyes. So, yeah, I wanted to take a walk around, you know, starting with the Middelburg Bastion right here, looking out over the Melaka River. Yeah, I enjoyed that quite a bit. I just have this thing if I get to a new place, I really like to get it straight in my head how it’s laid out. I like to get that eagle’s eye perspective. And Melaka was just confusing me. Couldn’t make any sense out of the historic maps that I’m seeing. But now I’ve got it straight in my head. And I hope you enjoyed that little walk with me. And maybe you can appreciate the historic city of Melaka a little bit better based on some of that information. It’s hot. It is so hot out here. I’m going to head for some air conditioning. Head for a cold drink. Yeah, absolutely. So, with that, shutting down here on Planet Doug and I’ll see you in the next video.