Malta arrival Saturday & then Sunday

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Arrival (Sat) and Day One (Sunday)

I went to Malta for a week with my sister in January 2015. We arrived late at night in Valetta. These images show 2227 as the time, but I think this is Irish time.

This is the hallway of the Osborne Hotel, South St the following morning.
Outside you can see the sun is shining on the Mediation Centre across the road.


I was enchanted by these balconies.
Someone told us that this is influence from the Moorish settlers who came around the 870 AD's and stayed about two hundred years

 That first day we were there was a Sunday, so we set out to find a Church with Mass in English. However, in our over-eagerness, we arrived so early at the Carmelite church (right) that we got the Maltese Mass instead.
Interesting to see that a woman led the singing, read the readings, and the prayers of the faithful. There was a fair number attending, but it wasn't packed, despite what we had been told about Malta being 'a very Catholic country'.

Well it may not have had full churches, but Sunday was well observed just the same. Hardly any shops were open, though it was easy enough to get something to eat.

 They had given us a map at the hotel, and we wandered around, trying to get our bearings. It wasn't until I got home that I discovered that the idea of North being at the top of the map was rarely adhered to.
Valetta is on a peninsula, which means that 3 out of every 4 streets in the grid ended at the sea - no help with those bearings.
Also, there are a number of fortifications which at first look very similar, and thus add to the confusion

But, we had no hurry, and that first day was mild so we quite enjoyed wandering around.

We seemed to walk miles, but later we discovered that many things are quite close together.




The steep, often stepped streets probably seemed longer than they actually were.

The Mediterranean looked lovely and calm, though it certainly wasn't warm enough to think of swimming, (as if this terrestrial pussy-cat would ever consider such a thing.)



This tunnel passage gives an idea of how thick the fortifications are.

The little shrine is at the entrance to the passage, and seems dedicated to a whole family of relatives.



Many times during the week I tried to visualize how invaders must have been disconcerted by the rocky approaches from the sea.

For some reason, this type of formation is called a 'curtain'.
We never figured out whether curtains were natural or manmade. Whichever, they added to the defenses of the beach, protecting against both invaders and erosion.


This little corner with its abandoned shoes set me fantasing that there must be a secret stone to push which would open the 'door' and allow us to disappear inside the 'curtain'.




I really liked this bit of handpainting on the boat.

 Valetta has a large population of feral cats, but they all looked clean and well-fed to us, though we didn't try petting them, just in case!

 I love this image of an allotment on the top of a cliff overlooking the sea.

It was particularly delightful to see lemons growing profusely. I'd only ever seen little green-house lemon trees before, with only two or three lemons.



Sometimes, footpaths were extremely narrow, or non-existent, and we had to decide whether to risk proceeding.

I fell in love with this oxalis plant which grew wild all over Valetta.
I was strongly tempted to bring some bulbs home, but was disuaded by the idea that I might be introducing an alien species.  I looked it up when I got home. It is called Bermuda Buttercup, and is no more invasive than cotoneaster horizontalis. I looked to see if I could buy seeds online, but found it only grows from tiny bulbs which don't seem to be available.

Some parts of the fortifications are in use.
This cafe looked very elegant, but prices were outside our budget.

 I was intrigued by these two 'apertures in the huge walls. apparently, the kind of limestone rock used is relatively easy to carve.

It also appears to decay or erodes with the climate. appears.

 Here we could see what looked like a double fortification, but we didn't explore too far into it, as it was one of the only places where we didn't feel particularly safe.





The photo close-up distorts the size of these niches which were actually quite small.

Presumably, this sign could be part of a walking path. However, we never saw any more!

But believe me, even without signs, we had surely been walking - so at this point, we took a short rest along the 'prom'.
Incidentally, that is the dome of the Carmelite church we had set out from in the background.

MORE steps!

Sign for St Patrick street, with a shrine to St Rita, one of the patron saints of difficult or hopeless cases.

Apparently, quite a few Irish people live and work in Malta, including the staff on the Ryanair plane in which we arrived.


We were told that these shallow steps were designed to make climbing easier for both the Knights and their horses. When not in battle, some of the Knights wore very heavy ceremonial armour. There is interesting information about armour here




This is the knight Valotte from whom Valetta is called.

We were interested to note the metal 'ribbons' at the side of his knee (right).



This is what remains of a lovely theatre that was burned down. There are no plans to rebuild it, but it can be used for outdoor performances.

Currently there is a project where passers-by can manipulate a 'screen' and leave a message.

There is a lot of lovely metalwork in Valetta. These samples are on churches near that statue above.

We never did go up all these steps into what is now some kind of art-centre






This is how the limestone degrades.

On this first day, we were fascinated by what we later learned to call the 'ditches'.
They certainly must have provided wonderful defense against hand-to-hand fighting.
Apparently, they were not filled with water as a rule, though rain-water did sometimes gather there.

Then there were these little 'guard towers'.

I think this is the prime-minister's office. We saw his car (no reg. number) when we passed.

Carving on the bridge over the 'ditch'.
I had to develop the habit of using the camera strap as there would have been no retrival had I let it fall!

We were constantly on the look-out for flowers and gardens, and loved what we found, though specimens were not as abundant as we expected.



Thought this was interesting to see that the walls are hollow, filled with rubble like at home.




This is the Upper Barraca Gardens, and I loved the way we found 'vistas' through the arches in every direction.

We visited Upper Barraca several times, and many times it looked quite different, especially the fountain pool.





This statue is called Gavroche and the story is here
It was the threat of Napoleon that encouraged the Maltese to appeal to the UK for help.

The gardens have many monuments, not just to war-heroes

Lions, presumably for courage, were a popular topic

Flowers and cats again

Beautiful lace-work in a shop window.

Back at the Osborne Hotel at last - this is a side view. The red post-box in the distance is directly below our fifth-floor window.

Don't the red shutters look very attractive - they are, that is unless one come loose during the night and bangs and bangs and bangs!