Malta

We were all excited about today's destination, but knew very little about what to expect. As our ship passed through the narrow entrance to the harbour at dawn, we started to get some idea of why we were excited.

Our ship was moored today in Valletta, capital city of Malta. Malta has only 412000 inhabitants and is a mere 300 square km. Because of its size, Malta is one of the most densely populated places in Europe.

Due to our short stay in Malta, all we got to see of Valletta was what we saw from the ship. The view from our stateroom looked like this with a Hard Rock Cafe located here.

Among the many nations that have controlled this island over the years, the British were the last and they were here for 179 years. As a result, the Maltese speak, not only Maltese, which is an Arabic tongue using the Roman alphabet, but also English. They also drive on the "wrong" side of the road and there are other remnants of the British Empire.

Our excursion today was to help us get a taste for Malta. First destination was the San Anton Palace and gardens. This is the residence of the President who is currently female.

Then it was off to Mosta to visit its famous Santa Maria Cathedral. The Dome here, like the Pantheon in Rome, is unsupported.

Because of Malta's proximity to shipping lanes and in particular the shipping lanes of the Axis (the bad guys in WW2) this town suffered thousands of bombing attacks, one lasting for over 20 hours. Needless to say, the island was devastated. This Mosta Dome was bombed, but this ended up being a good story. It was Sunday and the church was full, when a bomb exactly like the one in the following photo came through the roof. It failed to explode. Needless to say, the locals considered this a miracle, since an explosion would have wiped out the cathedral and half the population of Mosta.

Close by Mosta, we made three visits: one to an ornamental glass factory; then to a silver lace artisan; then finally to the finest wine estate on the island. They love to nab the tourist dollars, in this case Euros.

I only took the picture of a Maltese Cross in the lace place, which should explain the lack of lace in my photos. The Meridiana Winery visit was interesting - of course, since we got to the barrel room and had a tasting. The tour was led by Ingrid, shown below. The main reason they might be the best in Malta, is that they managed to hook up with Marc Antinori, of Italian wine fame.

In the same area was a great look at a Carcassonne-type town called Qormi.

On the way back to the ship, we passed this triumphal arch.

When the Knights of St. John came here in 1530 - they were like the Templar Knights, soldiers and monks all wrapped in one - the first thing they did, was build fortifications everywhere, especially around the harbour, which explains what you saw in many of the earlier pictures.

As we awaited our departure from Malta this evening, we all agreed that this was indeed a fabulous destination and it totally lived up to our expectations. We were sorry to have not had more time here to explore the now UNESCO Heritage city of Valletta. But, there you go. We left Valletta in the dark and it was by the far the prettiest harbour in the evening we have yet to see.

Following dinner we took in the shows in the lounge with the singers doing a disco set and Jacqueline Roche playing the violin, often accompanied by the ship's band.