Eleanor
1000+ Posts
This trip report was originally published on Slow Travel. All the pictures can be found here.
BACKGROUND
I won a week’s free holiday with Headwater Travel in Gozo. It seemed a shame not to take chance to see something of Malta at the same time. We arranged to add on an extra four nights staying in the Phoenicia Hotel in Valetta. This was arranged after Gozo which is retrospect was a mistake, as Malta felt very built up and busy after Gozo.
Flying into Malta made us realise just how built up the east coast is. Malta is a popular holiday destination and there is a lot of new development. Many cruise ships call into Malta, particularly Valetta, disgorging several hundred visitors into already narrow and busy streets.
The PHOENICIA HOTEL was built in the 1930s and had a decided retro feel to it. It proved to be a good choice of base. It is actually in Floriana, just outside the main City Gate into Valetta and a few minutes walk from the centre. It is next to the bus station. There is a taxi rank outside the door and horse drawn tourist carts waiting under the shade of the trees.
We planned to use the buses on Malta. This was a sensible decision as driving in the built up areas along the east and north coasts would be no fun. Traffic is heavy, there are parked cars along both sides of the road so leaving little space for moving traffic and there is little or no advance signing.
With only five days we had to be selective in what we could achieve and would only be able to hit the high spots. We decided on a day for Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and Tarxien temples, a day for Hagar Qim and Mnajdra and a day round Mdina and Rabat. The rest of the time would be spent in Valetta and Floriana.
We bought a monthly pass to all Heritage Malta Sites (apart from the Hypogeum, which has to be booked and payed for separately). It is excellent value if you are intending to visit several of their sites.
Overall we enjoyed our stay. We were disappointed by Valletta. Many areas off the main street were beginning to get very run down and neglected. There was major reconstruction work going on round the main gateway and fortifications and it was always busy.
The west coast is less well developed and much nicer. We would have liked to have spent more time exploring this, but would really need a car for this. There is open countryside with good scenery and some agriculture. Settlements are a lot smaller with less modern development. Mdina, the old capital with Rabat next to it are much more attractive than Valetta. These are popular with day visitors so it is worth planning to be in Mdina early. Doing the trip again. I think we would look for a base around here.
VALLETTA - IMPRESSIONS AND SOME BACKGROUND
Valletta was the first planned city in Europe. The previous capital had been Birgu (Vittoriosa). Before the great siege of 1565, Valletta was a barren tongue of land with a small watch tower (St Elmo) at tip. The Knights of St John realised that to maintain their hold on Malta they had to improve their defences and build a fortified city. Valletta is the result.
Around 8000 slaves were used to level the summit, cut a drainage system and lay out the street pattern on a strict grid pattern. This can be clearly seen when coming in to land at the airport.
Buildings were tall enough to provide shade from the sun and straight streets allowed cooling sea breezes to circulate. Streets fall steeply near tip of peninsula. Steps were constructed to allow knights in heavy armour to climb them.
They built a hospital (Sacra Infermeria) in 1574 to care for injured soldiers and pilgrims during the Crusades in the C16th. At the time it was state of the art. All medical instruments and dishes were made from silver as the Knights knew it had anti bacterial properties and there was a lavatory by each bed. The walls were hung with tapestries in winter for insulation. The massive square stone building is still there. It now houses the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Malta Experience (highly promoted with ticket office in the building across the road) and has an exhibition on the Knights Hospitallers.
A great ditch cut off peninsula to protect the landward approach. Massive walls and bastions were built round the perimeter of the city. People from all over Malta moved to live inside city. Grand palaces and churches built. Further threat of Turkish attack in 1634 led to the building of a second line of defences further to the west and and the development of Floriana.
Triq ir-Republika is the main street running from the entrance gateway along the ridge of the peninsula to the FORT OF ST ELMO at the tip. A watchtower and chapel were built here 1488. This was replaced by a star shaped fort built in 1552 after the Turks had sailed unopposed into Marsamxett Harbour. It withstood a month of heavy bombardment during the Great Siege of 1565 before falling. The fort was rebuilt and incorporated into the city fortifications. It was used as a prison by Napoleon and was used again during the Second World War. The National War Museum is in the lower forecourt but there is little to be seen of the actual fort during a visit to this.
Triq ir- Republika is lined with shops and eateries near the entrance gateway. Further down is St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Grand Master’s Palace and armouries. The bottom end of the street is housing. Many of the buildings were lavish palaces and Casa Rocca Piccola is down here. The top end is always busy especially when large cruise ships dock disgorging several hundred passengers going round in guided tours.
Side streets drop steeply down on either side to the shore. Buildings were large and grand although once away from Triq ir-Republika some areas are now very run down and uncared for.
The Order of the Knight’s of St John was divided into eight Langues based on the geographical area the knights came from. Each built a large and splendid AUBERGE with lodgings, dining room and chapel built round a courtyard. The Auberge de Castille is the Prime Minister’s Office and Auberge d’Aragon houses the Ministry of Justice. Auberge d’Italie is the headquarters of the Malta Tourist Authority and usually has a character dressed in the red costume of a Knight for tourist photos.
The Auberge de Provence on Triq ir-Republika is now the MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY. This is a splendid building with a painted ceiling in the entrance hall, painted by same artist who had done Painted Gallery in the Grand Master’s Palace, although it has been repainted several times.
The ground floor has exhibits from the temples, information on prehistory and exhibits taken from excavations. This includes carved stones from Tarxien and Hagar Qim, fat lady statues, tools, pottery... There are also photographs from the inside of the Hypogeum. (As photographs are not allowed in the Hypogeum, photographs of these photographs are your only chance of a record of the visit.) There are small display labels all in English although display boards have information in both Maltese and English.
Upstairs is information on the Bronze Age with examples of pottery, tools and small bronze figurines.
There is a display of a replica of cart ruts including junctions, that we had seen on Gozo. There is a short video about them and how they may have been formed and trying to explain why in one place one rut is about 50cm below the other...
The Grand Salon on the top floor has a painted wooden ceiling but is only open when there is a special exhibition.
On the south east side of the peninsula steps lead up to a podium with an open sandstone cupola with the SEIGE BELL which is rung at mid day. At the foot of the bell tower is a bronze sculpture in memory of the 7000 servicemen who died in defence of the islands during World War Two. There are good views across to Senglea, Vittoriosa and Fort Ricazoli from here.
Above is the Lower Barrakka Gardens, a colonnaded public garden popular with the local youth. A bit further are the Upper Barrakka Gardens which were the private gardens of the Knights. Below is the Saluting Battery which was one of the first of the fortifications to be built. It has a ceremonial role providing gun salutes on national and religious festivals and to honour visiting dignitaries and vessels to the island. In the past, it sounded news of important victories and gun salutes marking the Sovereign’s birthday, that of the consort and birth of new members of the royal family. The firing of the cannon at sunrise and sunset signalled the opening and closure of the city gates. the mid-day gun served as an official time signal by which mariners in harbour would regulate their ship's chronographs. This is still sounded.
BACKGROUND
I won a week’s free holiday with Headwater Travel in Gozo. It seemed a shame not to take chance to see something of Malta at the same time. We arranged to add on an extra four nights staying in the Phoenicia Hotel in Valetta. This was arranged after Gozo which is retrospect was a mistake, as Malta felt very built up and busy after Gozo.
Flying into Malta made us realise just how built up the east coast is. Malta is a popular holiday destination and there is a lot of new development. Many cruise ships call into Malta, particularly Valetta, disgorging several hundred visitors into already narrow and busy streets.
The PHOENICIA HOTEL was built in the 1930s and had a decided retro feel to it. It proved to be a good choice of base. It is actually in Floriana, just outside the main City Gate into Valetta and a few minutes walk from the centre. It is next to the bus station. There is a taxi rank outside the door and horse drawn tourist carts waiting under the shade of the trees.
We planned to use the buses on Malta. This was a sensible decision as driving in the built up areas along the east and north coasts would be no fun. Traffic is heavy, there are parked cars along both sides of the road so leaving little space for moving traffic and there is little or no advance signing.
With only five days we had to be selective in what we could achieve and would only be able to hit the high spots. We decided on a day for Hal Saflieni Hypogeum and Tarxien temples, a day for Hagar Qim and Mnajdra and a day round Mdina and Rabat. The rest of the time would be spent in Valetta and Floriana.
We bought a monthly pass to all Heritage Malta Sites (apart from the Hypogeum, which has to be booked and payed for separately). It is excellent value if you are intending to visit several of their sites.
Overall we enjoyed our stay. We were disappointed by Valletta. Many areas off the main street were beginning to get very run down and neglected. There was major reconstruction work going on round the main gateway and fortifications and it was always busy.
The west coast is less well developed and much nicer. We would have liked to have spent more time exploring this, but would really need a car for this. There is open countryside with good scenery and some agriculture. Settlements are a lot smaller with less modern development. Mdina, the old capital with Rabat next to it are much more attractive than Valetta. These are popular with day visitors so it is worth planning to be in Mdina early. Doing the trip again. I think we would look for a base around here.
VALLETTA - IMPRESSIONS AND SOME BACKGROUND
Valletta was the first planned city in Europe. The previous capital had been Birgu (Vittoriosa). Before the great siege of 1565, Valletta was a barren tongue of land with a small watch tower (St Elmo) at tip. The Knights of St John realised that to maintain their hold on Malta they had to improve their defences and build a fortified city. Valletta is the result.
Around 8000 slaves were used to level the summit, cut a drainage system and lay out the street pattern on a strict grid pattern. This can be clearly seen when coming in to land at the airport.
Buildings were tall enough to provide shade from the sun and straight streets allowed cooling sea breezes to circulate. Streets fall steeply near tip of peninsula. Steps were constructed to allow knights in heavy armour to climb them.
They built a hospital (Sacra Infermeria) in 1574 to care for injured soldiers and pilgrims during the Crusades in the C16th. At the time it was state of the art. All medical instruments and dishes were made from silver as the Knights knew it had anti bacterial properties and there was a lavatory by each bed. The walls were hung with tapestries in winter for insulation. The massive square stone building is still there. It now houses the Mediterranean Conference Centre, Malta Experience (highly promoted with ticket office in the building across the road) and has an exhibition on the Knights Hospitallers.
A great ditch cut off peninsula to protect the landward approach. Massive walls and bastions were built round the perimeter of the city. People from all over Malta moved to live inside city. Grand palaces and churches built. Further threat of Turkish attack in 1634 led to the building of a second line of defences further to the west and and the development of Floriana.
Triq ir-Republika is the main street running from the entrance gateway along the ridge of the peninsula to the FORT OF ST ELMO at the tip. A watchtower and chapel were built here 1488. This was replaced by a star shaped fort built in 1552 after the Turks had sailed unopposed into Marsamxett Harbour. It withstood a month of heavy bombardment during the Great Siege of 1565 before falling. The fort was rebuilt and incorporated into the city fortifications. It was used as a prison by Napoleon and was used again during the Second World War. The National War Museum is in the lower forecourt but there is little to be seen of the actual fort during a visit to this.
Triq ir- Republika is lined with shops and eateries near the entrance gateway. Further down is St John’s Co-Cathedral and the Grand Master’s Palace and armouries. The bottom end of the street is housing. Many of the buildings were lavish palaces and Casa Rocca Piccola is down here. The top end is always busy especially when large cruise ships dock disgorging several hundred passengers going round in guided tours.
Side streets drop steeply down on either side to the shore. Buildings were large and grand although once away from Triq ir-Republika some areas are now very run down and uncared for.
The Order of the Knight’s of St John was divided into eight Langues based on the geographical area the knights came from. Each built a large and splendid AUBERGE with lodgings, dining room and chapel built round a courtyard. The Auberge de Castille is the Prime Minister’s Office and Auberge d’Aragon houses the Ministry of Justice. Auberge d’Italie is the headquarters of the Malta Tourist Authority and usually has a character dressed in the red costume of a Knight for tourist photos.
The Auberge de Provence on Triq ir-Republika is now the MUSEUM OF ARCHAEOLOGY. This is a splendid building with a painted ceiling in the entrance hall, painted by same artist who had done Painted Gallery in the Grand Master’s Palace, although it has been repainted several times.
The ground floor has exhibits from the temples, information on prehistory and exhibits taken from excavations. This includes carved stones from Tarxien and Hagar Qim, fat lady statues, tools, pottery... There are also photographs from the inside of the Hypogeum. (As photographs are not allowed in the Hypogeum, photographs of these photographs are your only chance of a record of the visit.) There are small display labels all in English although display boards have information in both Maltese and English.
Upstairs is information on the Bronze Age with examples of pottery, tools and small bronze figurines.
There is a display of a replica of cart ruts including junctions, that we had seen on Gozo. There is a short video about them and how they may have been formed and trying to explain why in one place one rut is about 50cm below the other...
The Grand Salon on the top floor has a painted wooden ceiling but is only open when there is a special exhibition.
On the south east side of the peninsula steps lead up to a podium with an open sandstone cupola with the SEIGE BELL which is rung at mid day. At the foot of the bell tower is a bronze sculpture in memory of the 7000 servicemen who died in defence of the islands during World War Two. There are good views across to Senglea, Vittoriosa and Fort Ricazoli from here.
Above is the Lower Barrakka Gardens, a colonnaded public garden popular with the local youth. A bit further are the Upper Barrakka Gardens which were the private gardens of the Knights. Below is the Saluting Battery which was one of the first of the fortifications to be built. It has a ceremonial role providing gun salutes on national and religious festivals and to honour visiting dignitaries and vessels to the island. In the past, it sounded news of important victories and gun salutes marking the Sovereign’s birthday, that of the consort and birth of new members of the royal family. The firing of the cannon at sunrise and sunset signalled the opening and closure of the city gates. the mid-day gun served as an official time signal by which mariners in harbour would regulate their ship's chronographs. This is still sounded.