We arrive in the port of Valletta, The Republic of Malta this morning at 8:00 A.M. Following our breakfast, we disembark and meet our guide for the day, Paula, at the port and board the coach with our driver Mario. We bus first to the area of Rabat, a city surrounding the former historical capital of Mdina. We learn that Rabat is an Arab word meaning suburb, and Mdina is an Arab word meaning city. Needless to say, this island republic strategically located in the middle of the Mediterranean has been conquered by many empires over the centuries.
The only natural resource of Malta is its rock. When first excavated, the limestone is soft, but hardens upon exposure to the atmosphere. All the buildings are constructed of this yellowish tan limestone, continuously quarried over the centuries. As there is no water on the island, until the 1960’s, all water was rainwater collected in rooftop cisterns throughout the city and used sparingly. Since the late 60’s a massive desalination plant construction has provided more than ample water for the island’s use.
Earliest evidence is of settlement around 3,000 B.C., with control by the Phoenicians, the Arabs, the Romans, the Venetians and the Spanish over the millenia. In 60 A.D. the Apostle Paul was shipwrecked upon the island and lived in an underground grotto for three months. Paul managed to convert the entire population to Christianity in this short time period and the Republic remains 95% Roman Catholic Christian to this day. Paul is the patron Saint and touchstone of Malta. Pilgrims and popes journey to visit the grotto, and a church has been erected over the site...
During World War II, Malta was the Mediterranean headquarters for the Allied Navy, and subsequently was heavily bombed throughout the war. The population dug grottos and shelters throughout the island and used these for days and months at a time to shelter from the bombardment. We toured these shelters and also the prehistoric grottos used for burial and interment of the dead.
We left Mdina and next coached to Valletta, the capital and the town established by the Order of the Knights of St. John, following their arrival in the mid 1500s. The Order controlled and continues to influence the island. Their massive and ornately furnished Co-Cathedral is mind boggling in its use of gold, silver and art. The artist Caravaggio spent a number of years here, painting for the Knights. Three of his most famous works, including the only signed painting, reside in the cathedral. Caravaggio died on Malta at the age of 39 under mysterious circumstances in 1610, his body never being found.
The broad central Main Street of Valletta stretches for close to a mile; beautiful buildings lining the avenue, both old and new. Some foundations are dated to 1570 and exist side by side with the new parliament building designed by world renowned avant-garde architect Renzo Piano.
Our 5-hour tour wrapped up, we proceed to the dock near our ship and have a lunch of pizza, pasta and beer. We struggle back on board around 4:00 in time for happy hour and then a late dinner on the Lido deck. The ship does not depart Valletta until 4:00 AM the next morning, but this group of party go-ers are all back in their cabins by 11:30, leaving the in port partying to the younger generation. However, off the port side of the ship, on shore near the center of town, fireworks erupted; a marvellous display that lasted for many minutes - a fitting salute to our impending departure.
