Valletta and Mdina

We decided to try the hop on hop off (further to be called HOHO) trip because it was relatively cheap (18 Euros per person) and took us to two of the places we wanted to see. I also like that you can travel the whole circle route so you can get an idea of what you would like to see later on.

Valetta is the new capital of Malta (new being relative as it has been the capital for about 500 years!), and Mdina (pronounced MM-Deena) is the old capital.

After traveling a short distance past many beautiful harbours we arrived in Valletta.

The bus drops you off just outside the city gate where the local bus terminal is. There were A LOT of buses here! Malta seems to have a pretty good system for regional transit... we didn't however use it, as we mostly walked where we wanted to go.

When you first walk in the main gates of Valletta you are on the main street, which has some amazing buildings! One of my favourite things to do is look at the old buildings! I love the doors, the windows, the stone... everything about them! This beautiful building is almost right at the entrance to Valletta.

We didn't really know what we wanted to see in Valletta, so just started wandering. There were many beautiful buildings to admire!

We came across a little church, and went inside for a peek. It was quite beautiful, but small. One thing I've noticed is that the Maltese people like to post rules on laminated cards... they were all over the apartment we rented and I've seen them in multiple places in town. Here is the one for the church...

After checking that we were decent... and reminding the Handsome Man to be silent (that's pretty hard for him 😀), we had a look around inside.

Then we continued wandering. We found this very cool looking tunnel, which ended up being the coolest part of the building...

Next we stumbled upon this beautiful garden...

I was quite taken by surprise by this little oasis. It is just above the Saluting Battery where there happened to be a presentation going on. We were a bit late and couldn't really get close enough to see, but there was a presentation by a soldier dressed in historical garb that ended with the firing of the canon at noon. Apparently there were also war museums underneath the area of the garden, but we didn't have time today. Perhaps another day.

Next we headed down to St. John's Co-Cathedral. It costs 10 Euros per person to get in, but it is worth it. There are priceless pieces of art inside and the ceiling and floor are something else! The cathedral was built by the Order of St. John between 1572 and 1577.

They give you an audio guide when you go in which explains architectural details and facts about the art and artists. They have quite a collection of Caravaggio paintings.

Of course there were plenty of rules in this cathedral too... but you know I LOVE rules. Here I am listening to the audio guide with my backpack on my front, as stated in the rules 😀

A photo of the floor... the whole marble floor is a series of about 400 tombs housing Knights and Officers of the Order.

The ceiling was also beautiful and ornate. It is called a barrel ceiling, which makes sense when you look at it!

The cathedral also had several smaller chapels branching off from the main area of the church. You can see one of them to the right of the very ornate main altar!

Next we decided we had better head back the bus and carry on to Mdina. The buses do not run that late in the day (which surprised us) and we wanted to make sure we could see Mdina and then catch  the bus back to Spinola Bay.

When you arrive at Mdina, which is the old capital you see this gate...

Mdina is a fortified city that was founded around the 8th century BC, and has gone through many periods of occupation.  The city remained the capital of Malta through the middle ages and up until 1530, when Valletta became the new capital.

It is a cute little town, also known as the "Silent Town" because very few cars are allowed in the city walls. We enjoyed wandering the small windy streets and looking at the buildings.

Many Maltese "palaces" are now used as residences. If I had a Maltese Palace I would paint the shutters, windows and doors exactly like this one!

I would also like a place with a balcony like this one :)

So we wandered around and happened to come across a gelato place. We decided we had better try out our first gelato of this trip. I'm not even sure we would have seen it if this big beautiful plant hadn't been beside it... nope, I'm kidding, we are like magnets to gelato. 😀

In the spirit of trying to moderate, we agreed to share one, and found a nice spot with a view over the valley to sit and eat it.

We were quickly running out of time, so headed back to the bus... the last HOHO bus left Mdina at 4:15 PM... which seems quite early to me!

We did catch the bus, and enjoyed the rest of the loop around the North part of Malta. When we got to one stop the bus stopped for a "10 minute break". The bus driver disappeared into a bar (seriously... but maybe he was just having a coffee??? Or visiting a friend? Or using their bathroom?) Anyway, Steve took advantage of this to hop off and take a photo of the bus. You can see me at the top near the front.

So that concluded our day on the HOHO tour. The roads can be quite bumpy in Malta, so Steve sometimes referred to it as the Hop on/Bounce off tour 😀 Would we recommend it? Yes. Relatively cheap (18 Euros each) and a chance to get your bearings and see what you might like to explore further.

HOHO Tip #1: They weren't very forthcoming with information, but we eventually figured out that when you plug in your headphones, English is on channel #2.

HOHO Tip #2: The bus driver doesn't really give you information about where he is stopping, be prepared to know where you want to get off. If it is a main stop he will likely announce it, otherwise you better let him know somehow that you want him to stop.

HOHO Tip #3: The audio guide has some useful information, but could be WAY better. There is a lot of time where it just plays the same music over and over, or is even silent. Maybe they should hire Steve to do a new audio tape... he always has plenty of information to share 😉