MALTA
St John’s Co-Cathedral
The Knights of Malta’s main church, this extraordinary place of worship is up there with the most important Baroque buildings in Europe. The outside is plain, even severe in style, having been designed by the military architects who built Valletta as the Knights’ citadel capital in the 1570s. Inside, however, is dazzling, every inch covered in gold, marble or paint. Even the floor is a sea of tombs in coloured marble. Each language group of the Knights had a chapel here and they competed for the greatest and most sumptuous decoration. Recent restoration has only served to brighten the place further. The audio guide is worth using and points up the highlights amongst the visual mêlée. Don’t miss the oratory which is home to Caravaggio’s largest (and only signed) painting, the superb Beheading of St John.
Valletta fortifications walk
Valletta was built by the Knights of St John (the Knights of Malta) after they nearly lost the islands to the Ottoman Turks in the Great Siege of 1565. The city was constructed on a barren, rocky peninsula with water all around except on a narrow landward side. It was state-of-the-art military architecture, intended to be impregnable. And so it was: for 200 years nobody even dared attempt invasion. The fortifications are still impressive today. My favourite way to see them is to walk a circuit around the edge of the city on top of the walls (or as close as possible) looking down on the two harbours that flank the capital. The walk is circular so you can start anywhere, but I would start at City Gate - the main entrance to the City. Valletta is only 1km long so it isn’t too hefty a walk. At the tip of the peninsula, the far end from City Gate, stands Fort St Elmo, the only building here that predates Valletta and a key player in the Great Siege.
Grand Harbour boat tour
The famous Grand Harbour is at the heart of much of Malta’s history (and some of Europe’s). Site of the Great Siege of 1565 in which the Knights of St John just managed to hold off the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the centre of significant events of World War Two, the harbour was home to the British Royal Navy in the Med until the 1970s. Having seen the view from the Upper Barracca Gardens, in clement weather it is well worth getting out on the water. My favourite way to do this is on a tour in a traditional dghajsa. There used to be hundreds of these colourful little wooden boats ferrying sailors between ship and shore. Now there are only a few and their single oar (used rather like that of a gondola) is supplemented with a motor, but I think they are still the most evocative way to get around the Grand Harbour. Do not encourage your boatman to take you beyond the harbour walls; these boats are not designed for the open sea. A&S Water Taxis offer half-hour tours, six passengers to a boat, leaving from Customs House, next to the Valletta Waterfront, or from Birgu/Vittoriosa waterfront on the other side of the harbour.
Malta at War Museum
This is not only a museum about Malta’s Second World War but – for me more interestingly – it offers tours of the vast World War Two shelter below ground. Don a hard hat, pass through the (reproduction) gas curtain and descend into the world of the Maltese during the worst of the war. Malta was the target of some of the most concentrated bombing anywhere and this area, home of the Grand Harbour dockyards doing crucial ship repair work, was hardest hit. Hundreds of people spent days and nights down in these hand-cut rock tunnels with only smoky little oil lamps for light. The guides here are exceptionally well informed and really bring the place to life (in English). In summer, bring a sweatshirt as it can be cold by comparison with outside.
Lascaris War Rooms
Deep inside the bastion walls of Valletta, these tunnels were once the slave quarters of the Order of St John. In the Second World War they became the secret headquarters of the British and Allied Mediterranean forces, and it was from here that General Eisenhower commanded Operation Husky, the successful invasion of Sicily in 1943. You can still see ops rooms complete with maps, phones and plotting tables, as well as ancient-looking – yet inventive – communication systems. There is an audioguide in English as well as human guides full of additional facts and stories about Malta’s crucial role in the war. The Lascaris War Rooms are underneath the Upper Barracca Gardens so it is easy to visit both on the same outing.
The Knights of Malta’s main church, this extraordinary place of worship is up there with the most important Baroque buildings in Europe. The outside is plain, even severe in style, having been designed by the military architects who built Valletta as the Knights’ citadel capital in the 1570s. Inside, however, is dazzling, every inch covered in gold, marble or paint. Even the floor is a sea of tombs in coloured marble. Each language group of the Knights had a chapel here and they competed for the greatest and most sumptuous decoration. Recent restoration has only served to brighten the place further. The audio guide is worth using and points up the highlights amongst the visual mêlée. Don’t miss the oratory which is home to Caravaggio’s largest (and only signed) painting, the superb Beheading of St John.
Valletta fortifications walk
Valletta was built by the Knights of St John (the Knights of Malta) after they nearly lost the islands to the Ottoman Turks in the Great Siege of 1565. The city was constructed on a barren, rocky peninsula with water all around except on a narrow landward side. It was state-of-the-art military architecture, intended to be impregnable. And so it was: for 200 years nobody even dared attempt invasion. The fortifications are still impressive today. My favourite way to see them is to walk a circuit around the edge of the city on top of the walls (or as close as possible) looking down on the two harbours that flank the capital. The walk is circular so you can start anywhere, but I would start at City Gate - the main entrance to the City. Valletta is only 1km long so it isn’t too hefty a walk. At the tip of the peninsula, the far end from City Gate, stands Fort St Elmo, the only building here that predates Valletta and a key player in the Great Siege.
Grand Harbour boat tour
The famous Grand Harbour is at the heart of much of Malta’s history (and some of Europe’s). Site of the Great Siege of 1565 in which the Knights of St John just managed to hold off the invading Ottoman Turks, as well as the centre of significant events of World War Two, the harbour was home to the British Royal Navy in the Med until the 1970s. Having seen the view from the Upper Barracca Gardens, in clement weather it is well worth getting out on the water. My favourite way to do this is on a tour in a traditional dghajsa. There used to be hundreds of these colourful little wooden boats ferrying sailors between ship and shore. Now there are only a few and their single oar (used rather like that of a gondola) is supplemented with a motor, but I think they are still the most evocative way to get around the Grand Harbour. Do not encourage your boatman to take you beyond the harbour walls; these boats are not designed for the open sea. A&S Water Taxis offer half-hour tours, six passengers to a boat, leaving from Customs House, next to the Valletta Waterfront, or from Birgu/Vittoriosa waterfront on the other side of the harbour.
Malta at War Museum
This is not only a museum about Malta’s Second World War but – for me more interestingly – it offers tours of the vast World War Two shelter below ground. Don a hard hat, pass through the (reproduction) gas curtain and descend into the world of the Maltese during the worst of the war. Malta was the target of some of the most concentrated bombing anywhere and this area, home of the Grand Harbour dockyards doing crucial ship repair work, was hardest hit. Hundreds of people spent days and nights down in these hand-cut rock tunnels with only smoky little oil lamps for light. The guides here are exceptionally well informed and really bring the place to life (in English). In summer, bring a sweatshirt as it can be cold by comparison with outside.
Lascaris War Rooms
Deep inside the bastion walls of Valletta, these tunnels were once the slave quarters of the Order of St John. In the Second World War they became the secret headquarters of the British and Allied Mediterranean forces, and it was from here that General Eisenhower commanded Operation Husky, the successful invasion of Sicily in 1943. You can still see ops rooms complete with maps, phones and plotting tables, as well as ancient-looking – yet inventive – communication systems. There is an audioguide in English as well as human guides full of additional facts and stories about Malta’s crucial role in the war. The Lascaris War Rooms are underneath the Upper Barracca Gardens so it is easy to visit both on the same outing.