Day 3 – Around Valletta:The Three Cities & Southeast Malta: Marsaxlokk

Tags

Auberge De Castile, church of St Lawrence, Cospicua, Eye of Osiris, fishing boats, fishing village, Fort St Angelo, Fort St Elmo, fresh seafood, Knights of St John, Malta, Manoel Island, Marsaxlokk, Msida, Old Hospital of the Knights of Malta, photography, Senglea, sightseeing Malta, Spinola Bay, St. Giljan, St. Julian, Ta Xbiex, The Three Cities, travel, Valletta Bus Terminal, Valletta War Musuem, Vittoriosa, Zejtun

From the balcony of the apartment over looking the waterfront in St Julians.

Stopping for pictures on the way walking towards the bus stop.

Us, again.

I suppose it’s in Malti.

We took the City Sightseeing Malta hop-on, hop-off bus which is red in color heading towards the south route from the bus stop opposite McDonalds in St Julian, Sliema. It comes with different language commentary and also free ear phones. The route started at the City Sightseeing Terminus located on the Sliema Seafront (the starting and finishing point of all the hop-on and hop-off bus services). The bus traveled to Manoel Island, named after Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, a Portuguese Grandmaster of the Knights of Malta under whose leadership Fort Manoel was built in 1726. The fort is considered a marvel of the 18th century military engineering. Next came Ta Xbiex stop which was previously a typical Maltese fishing village. This area has since the time of British, been one of Malta’s prime sites for real estate, due to its wonderful views of the harbor and Valletta. It has also developed into one of the most sought after living ares in Malta Hence, the number of impressive buildings of Baroque and Victorian architecture, many of which now houses the majority of Foreign Embassies as well as a yacht marina.

On the rooftop of the double-deck bus!

The forth stop was Msida as you can see in the pictures below. Msida is a typical Maltese Harbor town which lies on the shores of Msida Creek. With Saint Joseph as its patron saint and The Holy Conception as its protector, Msida is one of a quiet haven for fishermen and today an important marina where beautiful luxurious yachts are seen berthed next to the local fishing boats.

Msida Marina.

After that, the next stop was Valletta Bus Terminus located in Malta’s capital city to pick up some more passengers. Then it continues its route around Valletta, this time stopping at Auberge De Castille. The Auberge De Castille is the most imposing and well-kept Auberge dating back to the 16th century and formerly housing the Knights of Malta from the region Castille and Leon in Spain who were responsible for the defense of the part of Valletta known as St. Barbara Bastions. Today, these are the Offices of the Prime Minister of Malta. The route then continue along  the outskirts of Valletta where the bus drove along, allowing you to observe the magnificent fortifications surrounding Malta’s capital city.

Later on, the bus passed by Valletta’s War Museum, built commemorating Malta’s ordeal during World War II with a collection of relics, photos and wartime equipment, as explained by the commentary. Next, Fort St Elmo where scenes of the most intense fighting during the 1565 Great  Siege occurred. I remembered clearly the tenth stop was Old Hospital of Knights of Malta. Now known as the Mediterranean Conference Centre, this building dates back to the days the Knights of the Holy Order of St John and includes two of the longest dining halls in Europe today. How amazing. I couldn’t fathom how long is really long without witnessing it with my own eyes. Fort St Angelo was the next sight, located opposite of the Grand Harbor (but excuse me a bit I still couldn’t differentiate thoroughly of the many forts I’ve seen there). This was followed by non other than the scenic Valletta Waterfront of Grand Master Pinto’s baroque wharf built in the 18th century. It has been thoroughly renovated as a modern cruise liner terminal.

You know what, I can’t seem to differentiate between fort St Elmo and fort St Angelo in this picture as they almost all looked the same but I think it is the latter. Malta is practically full with forts!

However, I couldn’t quite put my fingers on on the next stop because all I knew it was the stop before we were suppose to get down the bus. Anyway, the main attraction was The Three Cities – a collective description of the three fortified cities of Cospicua, Vittoriosa and Senglea, which are enclosed by the massive line of fortification created by the Knights of St John. Vittoriosa Waterfront has recently been conserved and transformed into one of the finest marinas in the Mediterranean with berthing facilities for super-yacht. My dad called it “something similar to Monte Carlo”.

Vittoriosa Waterfront, The Three Cities.

Church of St Lawrence at the back.

Mediterranean climate is the best for cactus growing so most of the plants in Malta are cactus.

This trio of towns – Cospicua, Vittoriosa and Senglea – are closely-knit working communities largely dependent on their dockyards for employment. They are surprisingly off the tourist radar – and for now, at least – they offer a welcome escape from the commercial hustle of Valletta and Sliema.

The controversial Cottonera Waterfront regeneration project in Vittoriosa has seen the opening of a chichi casino (Casino di Venezia), half a dozen restaurants, a marina for so called ‘superyacts’ and the construction of some very out-of-place modern residential apartments. Plans for a new five-star hotel seem to have stalled, so the land (by the casino) remains fenced and vacant.

Atmospheric Vittoriosa is only 800m long and 400m at its widest, so it is hard to get lost – but aimlessly wandering its old, flower-bedecked alleys makes for a pleasant diversion. However, street signs are in Malti, while most tourist maps are in English only, which can be confusing.

Grand Harbor.

Keep talking about super-yachts, Malta’s excellent harbor and its strategic location at the hub of the Mediterranean has led to its development as a major yachting cenre. There are berths for 700 yachts (up to 18m length overall) in Msida Marina near Valletta (already explained and depicted in photos above); and Mgarr Marina on Gozo (which you will see later when I blog about Gozo in a day’s trip) has a space for over 200 boats. There are also upmarket marinas (“something similar to Monte Carlo” as my dad put it) at the Portomaso complex in St Julian’s and Grand Harbor Marina in Vittoriosa as you can see them here in The Three Cities.

Malta’s popularity with the yachting fraternity means that it is possible to make your way there as unpaid crew. Yachts tend to leave Gibraltar, southern Spain and the Balearic in April and May to head towards the popular cruising grounds of the Greek Islands and Turkish coats (all in which Malta is surrounded by in the map). It’s also possible to just turn up at a marina and ask if there are also agencies that bring together yacht owners and prospective crew (for a fee, of course) and off you go wind sailing or island hopping in high speed luxury boats.

I like this a lot; the blue-black reflection of the water and the shadows of the clouds makes it so soothing.

After snapping a few photos, the rain droplets came and we decided to take a shield from the rain so we went for a drink in one of the many high-end cafes there along Vittoriosa Waterfront. We settled for II-Forn on Triq it-Tramuntana. The place was cozy and this alluring art gallery and wine bar has plenty of fabulously colorful art by the Austrian-born owner of the bar on display. It is well worth a look while enjoying traditional snacks and local wines in one of the courtyards.

After a delicious cup of hot chocolate and coffee, the rain stopped quickly enough for us to resume our photo-taking so that’s why you see the change of color of the sky in the photos above. The Sun came out and we sat on the benches overlooking the marina after an hour to wait for the bus to arrive. The specific bus driver was not punctual so instead of spending an hour’s time at The Three Cities we waited almost an hour extra till the bus arrived. The fifteenth stop was Zejtun; its name taken from the Sicilian Arabic for “olive” – zaytun, which was one of the main productive industries in Malta.

We stayed in the bus until the next stop came which was Marsaxlokk – a traditional fishing village located in the south-eastern part of Malta with colorful boats, market and fish restaurants. The village’s name comes from marsa, which menas “port” and xlokk, which is the local name for south east. Despite the encroachment of modern industry, the ancient fishing village of Marsaxlokk remains absolutely a slice of real Maltese life.

Old low-rise houses ring the waterfront, and a photogenic fleet of brightly colored luzzu (fishing boats) dance in the harbor. Men with weathered faces sit by the waterside mending nets and grumbling about the tax on diesel, while others scrape, paint and saw as they ready their boats for the sea. The town is home to around 70% of the Maltese fishing fleet, and is – not surprisingly – renowned for its top-notch seafood restaurants, making it a magnet for long-lunching locals and busloads of day-trippers.

The daily market on the waterfront sells mainly tourist tat aimed at the tour groups, who regularly sally forth from their buses for a lunchtime shopping break which is clearly not the case for us, at least. We visited Marsaxlokk on a Sunday so what was far more interesting is the Sunday Fish Market, where you can admire the riches of the Med. The market starts early in the morning and the best stuff is long gone by afternoon. Since we arrived in Marsaxlokk by lunchtime, most of the market stalls are selling off the remaining so there wasn’t much to it.

Get ready to mix with the locals and enjoy the fresh seafood and relaxed atmosphere… We dined at Ir-Rizzu for lunch. The restaurant recommended has a large and bustling dining room devoid of airs and graces. The fish do the talking here – check out the mind-boggling list of local piscatorial specimens, everything from lampuka (dolphin fish) and octopus to king prawns or a hearty bowl of aljota (traditional Maltese fish soup); we had it all, topping those dishes up with the mouthwatering black squid ink spaghetti that managed to lure me back to it’s height, craving for more even as I am typing this now. It’s such a bustling crowd in the place. Lots of locals trust Ir-Rizzu for its quality; the downside is no outdoor seating but I guess that is okay because the only thing your nose can recognize outdoor is the strong scent of fresh seafood blowing in the air.

After lunch at Ir-Rizzu.

Fishing nets on the ground.

The brightly colored fishing boats that crowd the harbors around the coast have become one of Malt’s national symbols. Painted boldly in blue, red and yellow, with the watchful ‘Eyes of Osiris’ (try opening your eyes wider to observe if you wonder how it looks like – painted in a pair, just below the pointed tip of these colorful boats in the pictures above and below) more specifically on the bows to ward off evil spirits, they are unmistakably Maltese. The harbor at Marsaxlokk is famous for its colorful vistas of moored fishing boats.

Spot three boats with the ‘Eye of Osiris’.

The main street where all the eateries and seafood restaurants located along.

Hungry cat lingering around the seafood village and looking to steal some fish?

So that wraps up day 3! Stay tuned for day 4 and 5 as we took a ferry across to Gozo…

For clearer and larger view of these pictures, click here to view them on Flickr.

Day 1 & 2 – Valletta City Centre, Malta

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.