Tags
Baroque architecture, Floriana Gate, food, Fort St Elmo, Grand Harbor, Malta, Maltese stew rabbit, Maltese_Sicilian cuisine, Paceville, photography, Saluting Battery, sightseeing Malta, Spinola Bay, St. Giljan, St. John's Co-Cathedral, St. Julian, St. Mark Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, St. Paul's Shipwreck Church, travel, Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta, Valletta City Centre, Valletta Old City Gate, Valletta shopping street, Valletta Square, Victoria Gate
From mysterious prehistoric temples to magnificent baroque architecture, celebratory feasts of rabbit to fiestas of noisy fireworks, rattling yellow buses to colorful wooden fishing boats, this tiny speck on the map offers a surfeit of unique charm. Malta is microcosm of the Mediterranean, a sponge that has absorbed different dollops of character from its neighbor and conquerors. Sample the Sicilian-inspired cuisine on its menus and look out for the legacies of 150 years of British rule. It’s certainly an electric mix and there has been a long roll-call of rulers over the centuries, but be in no doubt – Malta is not just a notional outpost of Italy or a relic of colonial Britain. This diminutive island nation has a quirky character all of its own.
Malta is well known as a beach-holiday destination, in which the sun and sea certainly justify such marketing. Or like us, who simply wanted a getaway in somewhere not as overrated, to spend some days relaxing during this festive holiday. There is much more to the country than that though. Although it is a city, but what makes Malta a truly unique place is that many of its intriguing past is still visible today – from 5000 year old temples to immense 16th century fortifications and museums dedicated to tales of World War II heroism. Couple the history, beaches and sunny climate (we went during the winter season which is not the peak time, so temperature ranges around 15 degrees Celsius but there is still a fair amount of sunshine between short spells of light rain) with the warm, friendly locals, character-filled villages, scenic landscapes, decent nightlife and first-class diving opportunities during summer and you have got a pocket-rocket destination offering drawcrads out of all proportion to its size.
Malta is the smallest state in the EU, having joined in 2004. Although the currency is in Euro, their standard of living is definitely not as high as in Malaysia. Their daily groceries in any supermarket are really reasonable and sometimes or I rather say most of the times, it is cheaper than at home even after converting the prices; if you compare dollar to dollar, it is even way cheaper. The prices of ham, cheese and all the other cold cuts you can name, bread, yoghurt, fruits, etc are much lesser too when compared to here. Another plus side is that they have a myriad of variety, so we go for grocery shopping just nearby the apartment we stayed almost everyday. Eating out is not as worth it, but again it depends where you dine at and we mostly dined at restaurants all recommended by Lonely Planet. However, all the prices of dishes in restaurant in Malta are quite standardize. The theory of dining in a top-notch or higher end restaurant compared to quaint little convenient cafes is not much of a difference. Unlike in Malaysia where the inflation rate is so high, traders simply jacked up prices especially during festive seasons for the sake of profiteering; well, you won’t come across such dilemma over there.
Otherwise, Maltese cuisine is influenced by the many foreign cultures that have ruled the country in its long history. The food is rustic and meals are generally based on seasonal produce and the fisherman’s catch. Malta is not known as a destination for gourmets, but the food is generally good and cheap. The most obvious influence is Sicilian, and most cheaper restaurants serve pizza and pasta; there are also upscale places serving more creative Italian specialties. English standard (grilled chops, roast with three veg) are also commonly available, particularly in tourist areas. If you are tire of the meat-fish-pasta-pizza menus, you will also find Chinese restaurants (I found that they are many of them around St Julian where I stayed and wondered if those are the very places Chinese tourists following tour companies dine at most of the time), a few Indian eateries and an increasing number of Japanese, yes! and Thai places and surprisingly they even have Thai message shops. Somehow honestly after having sampled typical Sicilian cuisine in Italy later I would say that they are quite a far cry from Malta’s and so much richer.
Furthermore, the language barrier was not any problem since every Maltese speaks English as Malta was formerly under the British rule. But of course they also speak Malti- the native language of Malta. Both Malti and English are official languages in Malta, and as I have said almost everyone is bilingual. So, travelers will have no trouble at all getting by in English at all times. Although a city, Malta has a low rate of violent crime, and crimes against visitors are a rarity. Incidents involving pickpockets and purse-snatchers are uncommon.
The flight to Dubai courtesy of Emirates is around 6 hours, we transited in Dubai International Airport for another 3 hours before boarding another flight to Malta via Larnaca (third largest city) on the southern coast of Cyprus for another hour for passengers to board the plane, and then continue our journey till we reached Malta International Airport at Luqa, 8km south of Valletta which took approximately another 6 hours plus all in all. Besides sleeping most of the time, of course one cannot miss the best in-flight entertainment in the world awarded to Emirates has to offer; so I managed to watch a few movies and shows like In Time, Johny English Reborn, Abduction, Glee and listened to music. We arrived in Malta around afternoon local time and our driver Juliano waited and picked us up from the airport to Franco’s apartment. We got ourselves refreshed after the long journey, and headed to the nearby grocery shop to stock up the apartment. After that, we walked leisurely along Triq Ġorġ Borg (George Borg) Olivier Street in St. Julian’s, had dinner in a restaurant named Vino Veritas and called it a day.
All throughout our trip in Malta, we stayed in a fully-furnished seven-floor apartment named Bayview in St Julian’s with full kitchen facilities just like home including dishwashers and washing machine so you see why it is that convenient to cook so often. Cosmopolitan St Julian’s, north of Sliema, has been the focus of much recent tourist development, with five star hotels and apartment complexes rising along the rocky shoreline (notably in St. George’s Bay and Portomaso). Paceville is the heart of St Julian’s – it is pretty shabby and quiet by day but comes to life after dark, when it lives up to its title as the country’s nightlife capital. This is where many of Malta’s English-language schools are located, so you will hear a variety of languages and accents, and see lots of groups of students hitting the bars instead of the books, like I have seen in Bay Street.
The view taken from directly opposite the balcony of the apartment.
Towards the east of the Mediterranean Sea.
Downward view from the balcony along the street.
While walking during the evening till night falls…
Maltese stew rabbit.
Came day two, we took a cab to Valletta, stopping at Virtu Ferries to buy our tickets to Sicily for the next part of our trip. After that we walked passed Floriana and all the way into the main old city centre of Valletta, exploring the nooks and crannies of Valletta, admiring monuments and soaking up the history. The suburb of Floriana, immediately south-west of the capital Valletta, grew up in the 18th century within the landward defenses of Valletta. The northern part is taken up with government buildings and offices, while the south side is mostly residential. The most exciting thing to happen in Floriana in recent times is the Valletta Waterfront redevelopment (also known as Pinto Walf), on the southeast side of Floriana, just beneath the capital’s fortifications. It is where a growing number of cruise ships dock, and it sits alongside the Sea Passenger Terminal, where the passenger ferries arrive and depart.
Entering from Floriana Gate.
Sea Passenger Terminal, as explained from the location.
Walking towards Valletta city centre…
There is an extensive network of buses in Malta (over 500 buses). Almost all bus routes in Malta originate from the chaotic City Gate bus terminal in Valletta after the Triton Fountain in which we walked passed too in the picture below, and radiate to all parts of the island, which makes certain cross-country journeys (eg Marsaxlokk to Marsaskala) in a bit inconvenient, as you have to travel via Valletta – exactly what we did when we visited Marsaxlokk which I will write about in the upcoming post. As for the iconic Malta big yellow buses dating from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, brightly painted in a lively yellow, white and orange. Accordingly, the authorities have phased out the old boneshakers, replacing them with modern, air-conditioned, wheelchair-accessible vehicles Arriva buses. However, I think they did preserved a few better vintage buses as a tourist attraction.
Their public buses Arriva of the PTA.
Walked pass St Mark street on the way to Valletta Waterfront.
Police station.
The rest of these few pictures are taken all around Valletta Waterfront…
Their sea water is really clear and blue.
Harbors, ports, waterfront… That’s the scenery around Malta.
Grand Harbor.
At the furthest point of Valletta and guarding the entrance to both Marsamxett and Grand Harbors is Fort St Elmo, named after the patron saint of mariners. It was built to guard the entrances to the harbors on either side of the Sceberras Peninsula. Today, Fort St Elmo is home to Malta’s police academy and is open to the public for historical reenactments, held at 11am on most Sunday mornings except during the peak summer period from mid July to late September.
Fort St. Elmo zoomed in from the waterfront.
Victoria Gate, otherwise known as main old city gate of Valletta.
Few places can lay claim to the title of Europe’s tiniest capital. Valletta is Malta’s Lilliputian capital, measuring all of 600 meters by 1000 meters – you won’t wear out too much shoe leather seeing the sights of the city, but you will come to appreciate its sheer compactness and the ease of exploring. You may also come to love its history-filled streets, squares and narrow alleys, sometimes dilapidated but always charming, and its idiosyncratic quirks! – a colorful row of overhanging first floor balconies, a hulking bastion as a reminder of a turbulent past, a collection of bright yellow and orange buses, a shopfront that could relic of 1930s Britain.
When Valletta was built by the knights of St. John in the 16th and 17th centuries, its founder decreed that it should be ‘a city built by gentlemen for gentlemen’, and it retains much of its elegance to this day. But that’s not the capital’s only quote-worthy quote: when Unesco named Valletta a World Heritage Site, it described it as ‘one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world’, and who are we to disagree? Keep on scrolling and the pictures certainly will prove it. Still, when you are tire of all the history in and around Valletta, there are the treats you would expect most European capitals, albeit on a teensy scale (this capital has a population of only 7000). Good restaurants, bars and theater can be enjoyed here, but don’t expect Valletta to be buzzing all night – it is far too small for that sort of action (as I have pointed out earlier Paceville is the place for all the nightlife), but that is a large part of Valletta’s charm.
We entered the city square from the large Wembley Store on the left and just walked relaxingly around the city centre, drinking in the sights of these baroque style buildings and the crowds on the street shopping.
St John’s Co-Cathedral is known as Malta’s most impressive church but the facade is rather plain, and framed by twin bell towers – a feature that has been copied by almost every church in Malta. We didn’t really visited thoroughly any churches, we happened to be sitting in front of this church on the benches eating our packed homemade sandwich for lunch.
These birds love the bread and its crumbs so much they keep coming towards us.
As you can see in almost all of the pictures, Malta’s architectural is dominated by two influences – the Knights of St John and the Roman Catholic Church. Together they created a distinctive variation of the baroque style of architecture that swept across Europe between the end of the 16th century and the 18th century. The Maltese claim to be one of the oldest Christian people in the world, having been converted by St Paul after his shipwreck on Malta in AD 60. Maltese society remains deeply influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. Although local fiestas are noisy and colorful expression of worship, church services are largely solemn experiences, full of reverence and Catholic ritual. There are 64 Catholic parishes and 313 Catholic churches in Malta, and 15 Catholic parishes and 46 Catholic churches in Gozo. The main period of church-building in Malta took place after the arrival of the Knights of St John, in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries as stated before this.
In AD 60 St Paul was shipwrecked on Malta and brought Christianity to the population. The moody Church of St Paul’s Shipwreck dates from the 16th century and houses many treasures, including a dazzling gilded statue of St Paul, carved in Rome in the 1650s and carried shoulder-high through the streets of Valletta on the saint’s feast day (10 February). There’s also a golden reliquary containing some bones from the saint’s wrist, and part of the column on which he is said to have been beheaded in Rome.
Entrance of St Paul’s shipwreck church.
Example of other Valletta street names – Strait St, Merchant’s St, Republic Street, Old Theater St, Old Mint St, Old Bakery St, Melita St, South St, St. John’s St, St Paul’s St, St Zachary’s St, St Ursula’s St and St Lucija’s St.
Hah, Buckingham Palace.
Just endless of baroque style buildings which are just too pretty, I hope you don’t find it boring seeing all of it there are still more to come.
Retards we are.
A few snapshots of the local cats I came across on the streets, taken specially for y’all cat lovers out there.
Perched high above Grand Harbor, the Upper Barrakka Gardens were created in the late 16th century as a rest and relaxation area for the Knights from the nearby Auberge d’Italie. The colonnaded gardens provide a shady retreat from the bustle of the city, and the balcony has one of the best views in Malta. The terrace below the gardens is occupied by the Saluting Battery, where a cannon once fired salutes to visiting naval vessels. The battery has been restored, and a canon is fired everyday at noon. If you are on a guided tour, it shows how the canon is loaded and fired, and there are displays on the history of timekeeping and signalling. The gardens, the battery and a whole network within the St Peter and Paul Bastion are being restored to house a museum and other displays.
That’s really all for this post which already took so much of my time writing and managing the ton of photos. Hope you enjoy reading and feel free to tell me what you think! Stay tuned to the next part of my trip to Malta, Sicily and Dubai.
For clearer and larger view of these pictures, click here to my Flickr.
