Valletta (or Il-Belt) is the tiny capital of the Mediterranean island nation of Malta off the southern coast of Italy. The walled city was established in the 1500s on a peninsula by the Knights of St. John, a Roman Catholic order. It’s known for museums, palaces and grand churches. Baroque landmarks include St. John’s Co-Cathedral, whose opulent interior is home to the Caravaggio masterpiece "The Beheading of Saint John".
We arrived early this morning so we were already in port before we woke up. It's always nice to wake up and see land, especially after a sea day. Here are some early morning pics
We booked a tour that specifically took us to St John's Cathedral as it's pretty renowned. BUT, because it's Good Friday, we couldn't go in, which was the whole point of this excursion. So it was an expensive mistake. I've learned a lot about booking or not booking excursions which I will share in a later post. In fact, we have 7 transatlantic sea days at the end where I'll provide a summary of lessons learned on a long or world cruise.
Back to Malta. Other than that initial disappointment, we really enjoyed Malta. The tour started with a walk thru the very historic town with beautiful old baroque architecture. Later in the tour, we'd learn about all the empires who destroyed and/or conquered Malta over the centuries including Napoleon. So many buildings have been rebuilt with beautiful, consistent and unique features only found in Malta. Here are some pics.
As part of the walking tour, we went to the grand harbour overlook. Notice the cannons. A common theme for Malta is that they weren't very good at protecting themselves; hence why they were conquered so many times historically. They were/are in a strategic location for a port between the Suez Canal and the Straight of Gibraltar, a major trade route, so everyone wanted control of the island.
Next we went to a cultural center where we saw a documentary on the history of Malta. The Neolithic period, the Bronze age, and other BC (before christ) periods were followed by the middle ages, French occupation and British occupation before they finally gained their independence in 1964. In each age, they had different rulers and different influences such that now, they speak Maltese and English, drive on the left, write in latin and are part of the EU for currency and other related policies. It's a real melting pot of culture.....not nearly as italianesque as I was expecting.
The city is full of statues honoring various heros and statesmen over the years and some religiously affiliated ones as well. But it's clear it was very intentional to adorn the city in this fashion.
After this, we drove to the other side of the island where we had lunch. It was an interesting buffet of local food in a very old banquet hall that dates back a few hundred years. Stone walls, thick wood beams and dark lighting made it feel gothic to me.
After lunch, they took us to yet another part of the island where we paid 10 euro each to go by boat into the blue grotto. On the way, I got some good pics of the topography and low stone walls everywhere!!!
In no time, we were on small boats running along the coast into small Caves with shallow but such incredibly clear water that the white sand on the bottom cast an iridescent blue light everywhere; hence the name "blue grotto". The middle left pic is the best one to convey what we experienced in the Caves.
(Personal note - about 3 weeks ago, I cracked a tooth, bottom center. I hadn't mentioned it and I'm not having any discomfort, but it's very noticeable in the above pics, so I decided to point it out. It was acci"dental".)
We headed back to the ship afterwards and arrived about 5pm, so considering we started at 8:30, it was a long day.
After a light dinner, we went to another folklorico. Local Maltese singers and dancers presented their songs and related dances
When you visit a city made almost entirely of limestone, pics tend to be limited to hues of cream. As I look back, that was true here too. So here are some colorful pics of local flora to bring some vibrancy to an otherwise color-challenged post.
Tomorrow we're in Sicily, an early arrival there too. Looking forward to experiencing authentic Sicilian culture!!! Not just the pizza 😉
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