V for Valletta

On the buses

St. Johns Co-cathedral

Upper Bakkara 12 noon salute

Paul, me and Peter

Grand Harbour

Amazing streets

Clocktower at Grandmasters Palace 

The seat of the president,
our claim to fame a third cousin,
Anton Buttigieg was president from 1976-1981 

Gelato time!

Our brick......

We are ready and waiting for our next day out to the capital, Valletta. Peter and Fiona arrive and with Peter driving and Paul navigating we make our way to San Gwann for the bus.

Its about 25 degrees and we are sweating already in the morning sun, tourists are all walking the same way through the entry gates to Valletta, lets go!

Republic St leads us right down first destination, St John’s Co-cathedral. Into the cool sanctuary we go. Marble parquetry, gold columns, frescos on the roof. Where do I look first? Let’s start with stop 1 on the audio guide, ok now I have some rhythm. This church was built by the knights of Malta and has 8 chapels to represent each group within the knights. I think there must have been a bit of a competition as each group tried to out to do the other with gold, silver and amazing art works. Finally we arrive at the Caravaggio, ‘The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist’. It is very dark and quite breathtaking. I feel like a 10 year old boy as I have to admit I like that he signed his name in the blood from the beheading.

Later Paul tells me about the time Napoleon was ripping off all the treasures from the cathedral and the quick thinking locals painted the silver bars to the chapel black so they would not be stolen.

On we go to Barrakka Gardens and Paul, our tour guide times it perfectly so we see the 12 o’clock cannon fire over the Grand Harbour. The views up here are spectacular.  But time to move on and get the lift down to the waters edge. Here we see Customs House that Dad and family went through to leave Malta and get on the boat for Australia.

Around water front we go snapping photos and annoying cats. Well I annoy the cats, Fiona takes photos of them. We are ready for a break so in the shade of the walls of Valletta we enjoy some hobzbiz-zejt u tadam made at home by Monica and Angela. Let me translate that for you, its a tuna sandwich on steroids. So flavoursome.

After feeling refreshed up and up we go back to Republica Street. Valletta is like a ridge with the capital on the top surrounded by massive defensive walls and harbours. A good place to setup and keep out the turks, prirates and everyone else who has attacked Malta over the years.

The Knights of Malta are a complex order that started in 1023 and used their Malta as their base for 15^th, 16^th and 17^th century. They moved the capital from Mdina to Valetta and built most of the amazing structures on Malta today. Initially starting out as an order to care for sick and injured pilgrims over the centuries they evolved into a formidable fighting machine that roamed the Mediterranean causing grief. They where also very wealthy and that means this small Mediterranean island has treasures that rival the best museums in the world.

The Grandmasters palace is next on our tour of Valletta. This was built for the Italian chapter of the knights. It is big and impressive. I so love opulence. State rooms done. Obligatory photo with knight. Tick. Now onto armory, fascinating however I am so tired I can barely hold the audio guide up to my ear. Time to go to the gift shop. We all finish in the gift shop and now lets find somewhere to sit down.

A gelato shop beckons and its good to get off our feet.

We head back up to the bus and our tour guide Paul veers off into a side street. We are learning to be Maltese and always walk in the shade. Past amazing coloured doors we make our way to Hastings Garden and see the other side of the harbour that surrounds Valletta.

Thanks to Paul for being an amazing guide, we covered so much more than is in the blog post and learnt so many interesting stories about Valletta. This was an experience that can never be repeated.

A quick stop by a property that will make all our family fortunes (not!). Back at home Monica and Angela have been preparing a feast. Edward, Ginny, Faith and Betttina (Paul and Monica’s son and family) join us and we sit on the terrace and enjoy the views, food and good company. We eat traditional Maltese food, bragoli, (beef olives) and Edward fills us in on politics of Malta and 4wdriving here. That explains the land rover parked out the front!