Malta - a day in Valletta

13 April 2006 11 am. Malta is the third stop of our Mediterranean cruise. We arrive in Valletta around 11 in the morning, after a fairly calm night of sailing. Already on arrival by sea, the sight of Malta and Valletta is breathtaking: the little town is all one colour, the ochre of the stone used to build the houses and buildings, which creates a beautiful landscape against the backdrop of the blue sea and sky. 1.30 pm. After lunch on the ship, we get off: we'll visit Valletta on foot, since the city is fairly small, stands on a hill and is completely surrounded by walls. From the port we climb up a rather steep street and then, through a pedestrian passage, we reach the Upper Barrakka Gardens: the garden is well kept, it opens onto a terrace right in front of the sea, from which it's possible to enjoy a lovely view and from where we can see our ship "parked" in the port.

The gardens are well tended, while for the rest the city is a bit grubby, but it has its charm: it feels like being in a middle ground between Sicily, Greece and Africa. The language the Maltese speak turns out to be a strange mix of English, Sicilian and Greek, which sounds incomprehensible to us, while the inhabitants look physically Sicilian, very dark-skinned. Having left the gardens we make our way into the city centre and, starting from a square, we walk along Republic Street, the main street of Valletta, where the main artistic attractions are found. The first building we see is the Auberge building, then we arrive at the Co-Cathedral. The church is also built with the ochre-coloured stone found in all the buildings of the city, but we don't visit the inside because there is no possibility of entering.

After the cathedral, still on the same side of the main street, we find the Grand Master's Palace, seat of the Maltese government. At the end of the main street, from whose sides many narrow, steep alleys branch off, called triq, we reach Fort St Elmo, built as the first sea defence by the island's inhabitants who feared an imminent foreign invasion. The fort has a star-shaped plan, but unfortunately it isn't possible to visit the inside. Having now reached the end of Valletta's main avenue, we take the lower road on the right that runs parallel to the sea and which will take us back to the port. As we go down we find a large bell built inside a tower and which looms over the statue of a reclining man. Not far away we find yet more gardens, but this time they are the Barrakka Lower Gardens, also set on a terrace overlooking the sea.

We reach the ship when it is almost 5 pm: we have to get back on board because in a little while we set off for another destination in the Mediterranean....bye Malta!!