The journey from Catania to Malta is a very short flight of about 45 minutes. The journey can actually be done by ferry as it’s only 95km south of the island of Sicily. We’ve booked a transfer from the airport through Welcome Pickups and our pick up guy – Andre is really upbeat and jolly. He tells us he can book tours for us, or if we want to hire his taxi he can take us around the island, so we decide to take him up on his offer. We have only one full day here tomorrow and had agreed we would spend it exploring Valletta. But now that we have this other option we decide to take advantage and do a four/five hour morning tour with Andre and cover Valletta in the afternoon. All of the morning exploring will be a bonus.
Valetta is the capital of Malta. We are staying in Sliema which is a peninsula just across from Valletta. It’s a coastal town with a holiday feel to it and a long promenade hugging the coastline. Our Airbnb’s really comfortable and is right on the front overlooking the ocean.
There are “natural swimming pools” or rock pools along the front. These pools were cut into the rock and allow bathers to swim in a concealed, albeit slippery, area from the sea.
We go for a walk to take in our local surroundings and end up having a few seafront drinks and dinner at a traditional Maltese restaurant called Takolina. Rabbit is a bit of a speciality here so we try that among other things… they are not shy with their portions and we’re all stuffed afterward.
Travelling with Australians means you’ll always be up early and you’ll hardly ever be late…. No exception this morning and we’re downstairs a good ten minutes before our 7:30am pick up! Andre greets us individually by name and we pile into the comfy eight-seater taxi. First stop on our tour is the Blue Grotto.
We take a short boat trip around the coast and into the caverns. The water is a beautiful clear blue and under the water at the rocks you can see different colours of red, green and orange. It really is spectacular:
Malta is a catholic country and “herself” is everywhere….
Next the prehistoric site of Hagar Qim which consists of a group of megalithic buildings over 5,000 years old. Very little is known about what they were used for but similar to Newgrange at home, there is a chamber which marks the summer solstice.
About 500 metres downhill toward the sea, with Malta’s smallest island Filfia floating just off shore is Mnajdra temple, another megalithic building. The excavated remains are covered to protect what’s left from the elements.
We are running out of time so by the time we get to Mdina we just about have enough time to get some pastissce (delicious savoury pastries) before a twenty minute dash among the streets of this very cool “silent city”.
Mdina is a walled city that served as the capital of Malta in ancient times. It is said that St Paul the apostle lived here in 60 AD after being shipwrecked on the island. It’s narrow streets and beautiful coloured buildings are fascinating to wander around…. for all of twenty minutes!!!!
We do at least get eyes on St Paul’s Cathedral
Andre drops us off at Valetta for our afternoon of exploring. Climbing high over the bay, there are great views all around…
We visit the Museum of Archeology mainly to see the “fat lady” who was excavated from the temples we visited this morning. This peculiar statue, although called a fat lady could actually represent a man or a woman. This, along with the tiny Venus of Malta and Sleeping lady statues are quite astonishing to see.
We visit St Johns Co-Cathedral, so called as it was raised to the same status of St Paul’s cathedral in Mdina and is home to the archbishop of Malta. It was built in 1573 and was the place of worship for the Knights of Malta. It is insanely decorative and beautiful.
Not only are the ceiling and walls astonishingly decorated but the marble floors are amazing:
There are alters along the sides representing the different countries of the knights of Malta. This is just one example but each are equally beautiful.
In the oratory (now the museum) is Caravaggio’s largest painting – The Beheading of John The Baptist…. exquisite!
We take the ferry back to Sliema which takes only twenty minutes and gives us a nice view back to this capital city.
The promenade is nice in the evening so we stroll along to Julian bay and have dinner and a few beverages before calling it a night.
Just time for a run along the promenade next morning and some breakfast before we head for the airport. Ciao Malta!
odohertyelaine 