Long a
crossroads of Mediterranean trade and culture, the island of Malta has been
shaped by countless civilizations. But it was the Knights of St. John who built
Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This baroque wonder is one of Europe’s
first cities planned and constructed from scratch, cut from the island’s
honey-colored limestone. The humble facades of its churches and palaces hide
extravagant interiors of marble, tapestries and paintings. A stroll around the
massive, intact walls and bastions affords a magnificent bird’s-eye view of the
cityscape and the spectacular Grand Harbor.
What a fantastic port. The city and area is just beautiful
with all the old rustic houses and scenery. You could spend quite a bit of time
here and not see it all. Malta is an archipelago of five small islands. Malta,
itself, has a population of 460,000. Malta used to be a part of Sicily until
the ice started melting and the seas rose. Today, they are 92 km apart. This
island has been around since Sicily took it over in 5200 BC. Since that time the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, Normans, Sicilians, Spanish, Order
of St. John, French and British, have ruled the islands. Malta
became an independent state in 1964, and a republic in 1974. Since 2004 the
country has been a member state of the European Union. In 2008, they
adopted the Euro as their currency. And in 2017 they approved both divorce and
gay marriage.
In WWII more than 17,000 pounds of bombs were dropped on the
island. It was bombed more than England because of its strategic position in
the Mediterranean.
We were here two days as the second day we were supposed to
go to Tunisia, but it was canceled so we were able to overnight here in Malta.
On the first day in the morning, we took a tour of two of the towns outside of
Valetta. The first was the city of Mosta. Here we visited a church dedicated to
the Holy Mother which has the third largest unsupported roof in Europe. One
interesting thing abo
ut the roof is that during the war a bomb hit the roof
when 300 people were praying in the church. It then bounced three times on the
ground, but did not go off. About ten years ago and expert came and told them
that it could explode at any time, so they took it away and blew it up. Today,
you can see a replica of the bomb that hit it. You can also see in the dome
where it came through. It is in the circled spot where it has not been refurbished.
Here are some other pictures from the church.
Here is the bomb replica.
The church was so massive it was hard to
get a good picture from the outside.
When we left the church,
we drove over to the city of Mdina (spelled that way). Mdina is a fortified medieval town
enclosed in bastions, located on a large hill in the center of Malta. The town was the old capital of Malta, and
with its narrow streets, few inhabitants and beautiful views over the Island it
is truly a magical town. Mdina is referred to as the “Silent City” by Maltese and visitors alike - no cars
(except those of a limited number of residents) have permission to enter Mdina
and the town provides a relaxing atmosphere among the visitors walking
its narrow streets and alleyways.
Mdina has a small population of around 200 people who live
within the city walls. In contrast, outside the city walls, the village of
Rabat is just a step away, and has a population of over 11,000 people. The city
presents a mix of Norman and Baroque
architecture and is the home to many palaces, most of
which today serve as private homes. The large and striking Cathedral of the
Conversion of St. Paul stands in the main square of the town.
One of the things that our guide explained to us is that the
cross on top of the church has a cross with two bars, which symbolizes a cathedral.
If there were four bars it would be a basilica. The other interesting thing
about his cathedral is that the priests are buried in vaults in the floor. So
instead of tombstones the headstones are the floor.
The city was first inhabited and fortified around 700 BC by
the Phoenicians and was at that
time called Maleth. It benefits from its good location on the island’s highest point, far away from the sea. Under the
Roman Empire the Roman governor built his palace in Mdina and it is said that
even St. Paul stayed there after he was shipwrecked in Malta.
It was the Normans who surrounded the city with its thick defensive fortifications and they also widened the moat
around the city. After an earthquake in 1693, there was the need to redesign
parts of the city. This introduced Baroque designs within the city, and the
Knights of Malta rebuilt the cathedral as well as the Magisterial Palace and
Palazzo Falzon.
The gate that
stands at the entrance today is not the original entrance; the bridge was built
later on to enable cars and people to enter Mdina. The original entrance gate
stands approximately 100 meters to the left and was over the moat. You can see
the outine in one of these photos.
From here we drove back to the ship. After lunch we set out on
our own to tour the city of Valetta. It is located right above the harbor. You
can either take an elevator up or walk up. Today we took the elevator up.
Once you got off of the lift, elevator, you had a beautiful view
of the harbor below.
Also at the top of the elevator were the Upper Barrakka Gardens.
We then spent the afternoon wandering the streets and admiring
all the gorgeous buildings. It was a little crowded as there were three cruise
ships in port.
Next, it was back to the ship. In all with what we walked on the
ship (2 miles) this morning and what we had walked on shore we had done eight
miles. Time to rest with a cold drink. It was beautiful though as you looked
down from the ship to the harbor and the towns surrounding us.
Up and about early this morning as we are here till noon today.
We had lots of options to choose from, but we decided to go out to the Lower
Barrakka Gardens. These were the other way from the port and we took the path
along the water, thinking that the gardens were along the water. The giveaway
should have been when the write up said they had a beautiful view down on the harbor.
It was a lovely walk along some not so good pathways, but
gorgeous architecture.
Once we figured we had to go
up we started up the hill. The first rest stop was at the Great Siege Bell
memorial. The 10 ton bronze Great Siege Bell memorial was inaugurated by Queen
Elizabeth and the President of Malta, Dr. Censu Tabone on May 29, 1992, the
50th anniversary of the awarding of the George Cross of Bravery to the island
of Malta in 1942. It is rung daily at noon. The bell is mounted in a
limestone tower. At the foot of the bell tower is a reclining bronze figure
representing the 7000 who died in the siege. It was very impressive.
We then continued our climb
to the Lower Barrakka Gardens. They were beautiful as the view was also.
We then decided we needed to
head back to the ship, as we needed to be on by 11:30. However, we found out we
were still not up to where we were yesterday, by taking the elevator, so off we
went up more steps with more beautiful things to see.
When we finally got back down
to the harbor, we took a stroll along the pier area that you saw lit up in my
pictures of last evening. It is a gorgeous area with tons of bars and
restaurant along the water, included the Hard Rock Café and Crave.
That ends our day and a half
in Malta. Tomorrow we are in Sardinia, Italy, an island off of Italy. We are
only there for a short time, but we shall see what we can see in the amount of
time we have. We have managed to pack one suitcase, many more to go.
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