Have Perut Will Travel...: MELAKA Walkabout│ St Paul's Hill • Melaka River • Fireworks!

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Friday, 7 March 2025

MELAKA Walkabout│ St Paul's Hill • Melaka River • Fireworks!

Time to exercise!

We left the homestay at seven in the evening and made our way along Lorong Haji Bachee till we reached the main road.

We then walked across Bendahara onto Jalan Bunga Raya Pantai and continued on until we reached Jalan Munshi Abdullah and walked across. We then turned left then continued our walk onto Jalan Bendahara. We continued south until we reached Nathan Barber Shop where I had a haircut for RM15.00 (approximately USD/EUR3).

We then continued our stroll along Jalan Bendahara and walked across Jalan Temenggong before continuing south along Jalan Laksamana. From this point onwards was a car-free zone and we thoroughly enjoyed our care-free stroll until we reached the Dutch Square, also known as the Red Square.

We spent some time taking a customary photo or two then continued along Jalan Kota until we reached a cluster of food trucks catered to the crowd that had just broken fast.

At the end of the row of food trucks was the A Famosa, also known as the Porta De Santiago ('The Famous'). The remains of this fort is one of the oldest surviving European architectural remains in the whole of Asia.

We walked into A Famosa and up a flight of stairs, and after a leisurely fifteen minutes’ walk we had arrived at the summit. Here we visited the ruins of the church dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle.

The Church of St Paul is known to be the oldest Catholic Church in Malaysia and is a revered landmark in Southeast Asia. Standing tall at the entrance of the church is a statue of St Francis Xavier in white; his lingering presence here is a testament of the church as his sacred burial ground.

This hill was previously known as Monti Ali Maria or Monty Hill during the Portuguese colonisation.

After a few minutes of exploring the ruins of this 500-year-old church and other artefacts we made our way down the hill. We ended up at Jalan Kota again and doubled back to Jalan Laksamana past the Dutch Square and the row of red shop houses.

We then walked down to the banks of the Melaka river and continued our stroll along this familiar path, past familiar landmarks before ending up at Seri Sahabat for a 'light' dinner of:

each a Naan bread
shared Tandoori Chicken
2 Iced Lime Tea
1 Watermelon Juice

that came to RM28.60 (approximately USD/EUR6). Cat walked across the street to get five sticks of our favourite Youtiao or Chinese Crullers for RM1.20 a stick (approximately USD/EUR0.30). After dinner we made our way back along Jalan Bunga Raya Pantai before walking across Jalan Bendahara again onto Lorong Haji Bachee.

Here we were treated to a five-minute fireworks display!

We then continued our stroll along Lorong Haji Bachee before walking into the Apple Residence and up to our unit.

Be sure to catch the next video of breakfast at a perennial favourite coffee shop!