The ferry from Pozzallo to Valletta left at 8.30 pm, but it ended up being 40 minutes late so we arrived about 10.45 pm. For a large boat it still rolled around a fair bit, a reminder that it would not have been much fun for sail boats trying to go that way.
The Airbnb we were staying at, was in the old section of Valletta and very close to St Elmo’s Fort. We arrived at the trendy 2 bedroom flat close to midnight and discovered it hadn’t been cleaned after the last guests left. I called the emergency number provided, and an hour later we had clean linens and a chilled bottle of wine.
Malta has been an important stopping off point for merchants crossing from Eastern and Western Mediterranean ports, as well as to and from North Africa. Apparently it has been populated since 2400 BC, and has been occupied by the Cathaginians, the Romans, Arabs and Normans. The Knight’s of St John arrived in Malta in 1523 and began the fortifications at Valletta. The first Great Siege was between the Knight’s and the Turks who joined with the North African pirate Dragut in May of 1565. After much bloodshed and loss of life, relief arrived from Sicily and the Turks retreated. 200 years of prosperity for the Knight’s followed, until Napoleons arrival in 1798, when they departed. The second Great Siege occurred at the beginning of the second world war. In 1941 the Italians and later the Germans, began a fierce bombing campaign until November of 1942. (The footage that we saw during our tour of the Lascaris war rooms on Monday, showed the destruction from the bombing raids which were occurring up to 7 times a day, and reduced much of Malta to rubble).
Sunday was sunny and clear, with a cool breeze which made walking everywhere a pleasure. We wandered down to a coffee shop 5 minutes from the apartment called “The Undercroft” which was actually under the church in the picture. After that we meandered through the old town, chanced upon a parade, and stuck our noses in one of the cathedrals to admire the ornate fresco’s. We located the elusive Lascaris War Room’s (closed on Sunday), and walked through the war museum at Fort St Elmo’s. After a brief stop back at the apartment, we headed down to the ferry that went over to the Sliema side of the bay, then walked around to Manoel Island, passing the duck sanctuary and another fort (closed at 4 pm). It was fun to check out the marina’s in this area and make notes for future reference. We finally staggered back to the apartment around 6 and kicked the shoes off for an hour before heading out to dinner around 8 at a Trattoria serving excellent Italian food.
