Valletta

As I mentioned yesterday, when the Knights of St. John came to Malta they decided that the city of Mdina, while strongly fortified and easily defended, was not the optimal place to headquarter themselves. So, they set about building a new, fortified city at the harbor. Malta’s double harbor is the largest deep water port in the Mediterranean.

The Knights came into existence as a hospital order during the Crusades, only later picking up a military role in the defense of Jerusalem. They were driven out of Jerusalem, settled in and were driven out of Rhodes then wandered until they took up residence on Malta. They must have had considerable wealth given the extent of the city they managed to build. The Knights gave up Malta to Napoleon with barely a fight in 1798. The French had a far shorter tenure, being driven out of Malta a scant two years later by Lord Nelson as he pursued Napoleon.

Entry by car to Valletta is strictly controlled. You can go there, but you are charged steeply by the hour and an administrative fee is added on top. So, armed with maps, guidebooks and passes we drove in to Sliema, across the harbor from Valletta, found a place to park and partook of a traditional English breakfast as we passed the time until the boat trip around Valletta Harbor was ready to leave. Our Malta pass included both the harbor boat tour and a bus tour of the island. The 90 minute boat trip provided a great overview of the history and layout of Valletta. The harbor itself is a vibrant, busy, working harbor with the largest drydock in the Mediterranean, a huge grain silo, warehousing and a cruise ship port. You can go to Sicily in an hour and a half on a high speed catamaran direct from Valletta.

After our boat trip we set out on the hop on hop off tour bus of the island, only intending to take it as far as downtown Valletta. We saw the rest of the island on our own from our car. In Valletta we wandered, stopping first at the Co-Cathedral of St. John. It was founded by the Knights of St. John and each of the knights contributed to it as part of their initiation.

The interior of the church is quite opulent as knights from different countries vied to outdo one another. Inside the church are the pictures of St. Jerome and the Beheading of John the Baptist by Caravaggio.

After seeing the cathedral we attempted to visit the Palace Staterooms and Armory, but they were unexpectedly closed for some state function.

We ended the day at the Manoel Theater, one of the oldest theaters in Europe.

After our guided tour of the theater including a look backstage we took a water taxi back to the Sliema Ferry Terminal, picked up our car from the parking garage and headed back to our hotel.