Marvellous Malta

Malta was a fascinating and unexpected gem.  I had assumed it would look like the other Mediterranean islands we have been to.  But Malta has quite an exotic North African look to it, except instead of the square minarets jutting above the skyline, there are the rounded domes and spires of hundreds of churches.  It is a comfortable modern Western European city where everything is clean and efficient, and everyone speaks English.  So it is at once very different and very familiar. 

Valletta from the Grand Harbour

Churches everywhere

We had quite a welcome into Valletta.  As we entered the Grand Harbour and were sailing along the city walls the Saluting Battery fired a canon over our bow just as we passed by.  Unknown to us they fire a canon every day at midday and 4pm from the Saluting Battery.  We just happened to be going exactly underneath this at 4pm on Wednesday when we arrived.  After recovering from a near heart failure, we felt quite important to be welcomed so officially!

The Saluting Battery overlooking Grand Harbour and Fort St Angelo

Taken from Songster - gunsmoke in the air just after being 'saluted'

We spent a week in Malta with Songster tucked up comfortably at the Creek Marina in the suburb of Ta’Xbiex.  The whole country made up of three islands; Malta, Comino and Gozo is only half the size of the single Greek Island of Corfu.  Yet the land is steeped in history from the ancient megalithic Scorba Temples from 5000 BC to the heyday of the Knights of St John in the middle ages to the heroic resilience in World War II.  We went to museums, churches and exhibits from all these eras and revelled in the fascinating history.

We went to St John’s Co-Cathedral and numerous other churches from the 16^th and 17^th Centuries built on the pirated and pilfered riches amassed by the Knights of St John, or today known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.  The Baroque artwork and marble inlaid of the floor and altars were spectacular.

Ornate painted and gilted ceiling in St John's Co-Cathedral

Beheading of St John the Baptist by Caravaggio

Marble Maltese cross

Inlaid marble column

Marble inlaid tombstones

 

One day we took a hop on hop off bus to the interior of the island visiting the Medieval city of Mdina, the old capital of the island.  Unlike Valletta which is one of the first cities to be laid out in a grid pattern, Mdina is a typical Medieval city of rabbit warren streets and old buildings nearly touching across the narrow passageways.

The hilltop walled city of Mdina

Winding narrow streets

The Baroque ceiling of St Paul's Cathedral, Mdina

We crawled around underground tunnels and air raid shelters.  We went to several WWII museums and the Lascaris War Rooms where the WWII defence of the island and the invasion of Sicily were co-ordinated.  We had watched the WWII flag waver, The Malta Story, the night before and fully expected to bump into Alec Guinness in the hallways.  By the by, Malta has a thriving film industry today.  Films such as Popeye, Game of Thrones, Gladiator, Assassins’ Creed, The Da Vinci Code, and Troy were all filmed here.

Crawling through the underground tunnels

The birthing room - imagine going through labour here with bombs falling outside

Operations map

On our last day in Malta we took a long bus ride to Birgu and Fort Rinella on the south side of the Grand Harbour.  Fort Rinella is run by some wonderful historical re-enactors which bring to life British Military history of the Victorian age.

The now abandoned Fort Racasoli with Fort Rinella behind

Sword demonstration

19th Century Victorian rations

Armstrong 100 ton gun - the nuclear bomb of its day.  Fortunately never fired in anger.

We also checked out the Inquisitors’ Palace, the Knight’s version of the Abu Ghraib prison.  The museum presents a fairly sanitized rendition of the Roman Inquisition period which practiced intolerance and torture at the Palace from 1574 to 1798 when Napoleon ousted the Knights from Malta.

Ceiling painting

Not a bad career move to be an Inquisitor

Sadly, despite the modernity and friendliness of Malta, pockets of intolerance amongst the powerful still exist today (as it does in far too many countries).  The assassination last year of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist and anti-corruption campaigner, is a cause célèbre on the streets of Malta.  In front of the law courts is a moving memorial of flowers, candles and tributes to her and her work.  Her anti-corruption investigations were becoming a bit too hot for the powers that be and in October 2017 she was killed by a car bomb near her home.  Some of the quotes at her memorial are quite inspiring.

Daphne Memorial

 

 

There is so much to learn from Malta’s history, old and new, all is relevant to today.