A Weekend in Valletta

 We decided to take a vacation from our vacation and spend a weekend in Valletta. Remember Malta has two main islands and we like to stay on Gozo because it is the quieter island. When you are ready for a little more action, it is easy to take the ferry over to the main island of Malta. This time we elected to stay in Valletta. I personally think it is the most beautiful city in Malta.

This time we took the fast ferry. It leaves directly from Mgarr Harbour and drops you off right at the Valletta harbour. This means you no longer have to take a long bus or taxi ride to get to Valletta.

Here I am enjoying my ferry right on the fast cat.

When you arrive, you are down at the harbour and Valletta (the walled city) is WAY UP! With your ferry fare they give you a little ticket to take the lift for free. Even if you don't have the free ticket it is worth the one euro fee. This is how high the lift is...

On our first day we enjoyed walking the streets of Valletta. Here is a picture of the "Jellyfish Street". Have I mentioned the oceans around Malta are infested with jellyfish this year? This is the only place I want to run into a jellyfish!

Here are a few more shots of this beautiful capital city.

That's me in the back sitting by the enormous Tritons' Fountain!

The scope of the limestone buildings never ceases to amaze me! Valletta was heavily bombed during WWII as it was seen as an excellent Mediterranean port to hold because of its location. Many of these buildings were rebuilt after the war to replicate how they looked before.

If you're curious what Valletta looked like after the bombing here are some photos for you - 

Valletta in WWII

Once Italy entered the war Malta endured constant attacks lasting 154 days and nights with a total of 6700 bombs dropped on the country. If you look at Malta on a map compared to other places, and notice it's size you can imagine the scope of how devastating this was for this tiny country

Valletta's opera house was also heavily bombed during the war. It lay in disrepair for many years, until they finally agreed to develop as an open air theatre. This is a monument that gives a clear reminder about the devastation of war, while becoming a beautiful place to watch concerts... a reminder of the resilience of the Maltese people.

We decided to finish our night with a little gelato. I HIGHLY highly highly recommend you try this place if you are in Valletta. The amarena gelato was the best I think I have ever had!

After this we went back to our hotel room to enjoy our private rooftop jacuzzi. Yes you heard me right! Steve decided it would be a splurge weekend (although the price was half the price that you would pay for a room like this back home!). I thought it might be too hot for the hot tub... but I was wrong. It was very refreshing!

The next morning we headed over to St. John's Co-Cathedral. This is one of my favourite churches in the world (second only to the cathedal in Siena, Italy). 

We had to go in the morning because the cathedral is only open until noon on Saturday (presumably so people can have weddings in the afternoon) and it isn't open to tourists on Sunday (presumably for mass).

I won't bore you with the bajillion photos we took (just a few!). There are many, many photos. The building and the floor are both stunning. The floor itself is entirely built of a series of marble tombs! There were numerous side chapels, statues, paintings, and even some priceless Caravaggio paintings. Caravaggio had a personal relationship with the church in Valletta until he was kicked out of the knights of St. John for being naughty!

Yes! Each one of the marble rectangles on the floor is a tomb!

I found the crypt you could peek into in the basement particularly fascinating and wish you could have explored it more rather than just staying at the doorway to look in!

Here are one of the Caravaggio's housed in the Cathedral. This one is titled "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist" which was completed in 1608. I don't know if you can grasp the size of it from the photo, but it is 3.7 X 5.2 metres.

Every time I see a masterpiece like this it makes me want to learn more about art. My list of retirement projects is getting long at this point!

Side note so I don't forget: Lisa, when you retire, you need to either bring the little libraries idea to Gozo, or you need to set up your own mobile bookmobile (maybe on a bike with a cart) because I just found out people who are here illegally are not allowed to take books out of the library (no ID) and everyone needs to read!!!

This is the last photo Steve took from up on the balcony before they herded us out of the cathedral promptly at noon.

You'll probably notice Steve has headphones in. Your admission includes an excellent detailed audio guide. The admission was steep at 15 Euros a piece, but I think worth it. Imagine how much it costs to maintain a building (and art) like this including paying for staff?

Next, we stopped at the little cafe just outside for a lovely snack and some drinks to cool off. I am drinking copious amounts of water these days!

Ha ha! I just noticed you can't see the water in the picture, but trust me we are drinking way more water than usual. It is hot! Last night when we were eating gelato around 8:00 PM in the shade, the temperature sign said 31 degrees. It's only cooling off to about 28 celsius each night.

We did a little walking around town. Did I mention how beautiful it is? 😉

While we were walking we came across a men's clothing store which carried Gagliardi suits... a Maltese designed line of clothing for men. Well, Steve found a gorgeous dinner jacket, trousers (I was corrected when I called them pants!), beautiful white shirt and a vest to wear to Mom and Gary's wedding in August. You'll have to wait until then to see it... but trust me he looks all supermodelly in it!

After this we took a short break in the shade and air conditioning of our hotel room, and then headed out to Mdina. 

Mdina is the old capital city of Malta and is sometimes called the silent city. The city of Mdina was founded in about the 8th century bc and was a city that was home to some of Malta's noble families. Another of Mdina's more recent claims to fame is that parts of Game of Thrones first season were filmed here. It was the site of King's Landing in the GoT series. It was filmed inside the walls as well as outside the main gate which you must enter to gain access to the city.

Here are some shots of this beautiful medieval city...

Some of the buildings are quite ornate, and you see many homes that have signs saying they are palazzos (palaces?).

Look at the detail on this building... including the chimney!

Quite a large church (and not the only one in the city) for a place that has a population of under 300 people.

The only cars allowed in are the cars of residents (or for commercial purposes). You can see the streets are not made for cars... look how this person parked!

Here is another of the beautiful churches in this small city.

And look at these doors!!! You know how we love doors 😀

Of course we stopped for a little gelato break at the top. You can see how this city was strategically placed so they could watch for invaders and be as protected as possible inside the fortified walls.

The little awning to the right of this gorgeous building is where you can pick up your gelato to enjoy the view!

Another beautiful street...

Notice the sign on the wall? It is nicknamed "The Silent City" after all...

Another reminder of the past...

A shot of how the city gate looks when you look back at it after you leave...

This little map gives you a general overview of how the city looks:

The next morning before we headed back to Gozo on the fast ferry we took a short walk through the Upper Barrakka Gardens on our way to the ferry terminal. We are excited to be returning here in a few weeks to enjoy the Delicata Wine Festival!

Here are the beautiful gardens.

One final note. After we took the lift back down to walk to the ferry, we were both marvelling at the construction of the walls. Imagine building these walls 500 years ago...

All in all we had a glorious weekend in Valletta. Another perk for when we retire here is being able to easily take the ferry over for a getaway where you can explore more beautiful villages!