Malacca or Melaka: Malacca City in Malaysia

Malacca or Melaka, a former Portuguese and Dutch colony has everything the visitor may wish for. Malaysia is a multicultural society  and Malacca City in the south of the country offers a unique mixture that is worth seeing.The town is very pleasant and together with fine hotels and restaurants the tourist can enjoy shopping as well as sightseeing.

Malacca city is also a modern city .

Tourists can enjoy a boat ride to see the houses by the river.

The most impressive building in Malacca is the replica of the Sultanate Palace.The Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum is also worth visiting but visitors are not allowed to take photographs.

 

I got a bookmark 

The Palace is surrounded by a beautiful garden,when I visited it there were very few tourists and it was really enjoyable, although really hot.

 

The historic centre of Malacca was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008 at the same time as George Town (Penang).Both places are very interesting and locals are very friendly with tourists.

The so called A Famosa Fortress was built by the Portuguese around 1511.

It is a pleasure to walk in the city and discover traditional houses and temples.

The architecture in the city is indeed varied.

People usually gather around the Dutch church .

In  this area visitors are offered a peculiar and colourful mean of transport.

The Kampung Kling Mosque is situated in Harmony Street which has that name because of the proximity of an Indian and a Chinese temple.

If you have the chance of visiting Malacca , do it , you won't regret it!

By TA

Nearly Gone by Elle Cosimano: Review

Nearly Boswell not only has a unique first name but also a unique ability, when she touches somebody she feels that person's emotions.She also has a strange fixation with personal adds that a serial killer uses to attract her attention.

I googled baby names for a while ( soooo unlike me) to see if that name was even possible, I guess nowadays you can call a baby almost anything . The most original website that I found was http://nameberry.com/. After reading the book a bit more I learnt that she had got her name nearly by mistake.

Well, the book is the best YA mystery book I have read in a long time . A real page-turner, I read it so fast that I felt a little bit disappointed when I reached the end. It is not a disappointing ending though, but it is something you can figure out but I missed ,even if all the clues are there for the reader to find.

Elle Cosimano, the writer ,is a self-confessed book worm and this is unbelievably her first novel. The sequel Nearly Found won't be published until next year and we will read about Nearly's internship at a local forensics lab.

Elle attended The Writer's Police Academy and according to her this is the reason why the plot, setting and characters are much richer than in many YA novels. The paranormal pinch and the romance with the bad guy makes the novel even more interesting.

Piacenza in Italy

Piacenza is one of those wonderful off-the-beaten-track where you get to enjoy the real Italian way of living.

 

You can continue reading about a nice restaurant and a gelateria  or about a beautiful castle or visit the nearby village of  Grazzano Visconti.