"Whoever is Lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice"

With Malaysia, another unvisited country, so close, we planned a weekend sojourn. We would head to Melaka (spelled Malacca in times past), on the western coast. It was a short 4 and a half hour bus ride away.

The town has had a fascinating history. It rose to prominence as the seat of the Malacca empire which stretched south to Singapore and Indonesia and north to Thailand in the 15th century. It was the most prosperous port of the region, and gave its name to the Straits of Malacca, a stretch of sea between Malaysia and Sumatra, Indonesia. The Portuguese were the first to colonize, but failed to rejuvenate it as a waning port. The Dutch soon knocked them off the perch. Finally, the town fell into the hands of the British when they traded parts of Indonesia with the Dutch, essentially drawing a line through the Straits to separate their territories. Next up was Japan, which occupied Malaysia during World War II after routing the British. After the war it reverted to British rule, but also began its path to independence, which was proclaimed in 1957. Melaka is such a historical place in Malaysia that the first Prime Minister came to the center for the independence proclamation.

And so it has a rich cultural past that creates the amalgamation of cultures, food, and architecture that exist today. One addition to that mix is the Peranakan culture, for those of mixed Chinese and Malay heritage. This culture dominates the food, which will come in a later post.

Our time there started with a walk through the old town, over the river, to the site of many colonial buildings. There were several churches, including the Christ Church Melaka and the Church of St. Francis Xavier, built by various colonizers and missionaries.

There was a nice riverside walk that had quaint furnishings, including Dutch bricks.

A sign in a park told the story of the name. The abridged version is that a local prince was out hunting in the area with his dogs. A small white mousedeer valiantly proved its courage by fighting his dogs even though it was outsized. Impressed by its audacity, he decided this was an auspicious place to live. He happened to witness this encounter under a Melaka tree, and so that became the name of the town.

We also wandered into the sultan's palace's grounds (a bit after hours, it turned out). Besides being full of neat flora and fauna, there was a cool monument that had the title of this post inscribed on one side.

From there we went to A Formosa, a gate that is all that is remaining of the original Dutch fortifications. After a quick climb up a steep hill, we got stunning views of the ocean and the city. Off in the distance you can see Eye on Malaysia, a ferris wheel that has been relocated from Kuala Lumpur. There was also a neat old church on the top of this hill, named St. Paul's Hill.

Our adventures the next day took us to Harmony Street, so named because it is home to three houses of worship from different religions.

There is the Kampung Kling Mosque. Interestingly, the architecture had Hindu influences as well as a pagoda style.

There was the Sri Poyyatha Vinayaga Moorthy Temple, sadly closed on this fine day.

And there was the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, for followers of Buddha.

Lastly, there was the ubiquitous Peranakan architecture, with cool shuttered windows on the second floors, large interior courtyards, and internal spiral staircases.