Day Two Malta: 5/14/22. Valletta, The Three Cities, Protected by Saints; Ferries, The Hotel, and More

After breakfast at out little hotel –66 St. Paul’s, a delightful and well appointed small hotel in the thick of Valletta – we set out to walk and see the town (city). The hotel is set inside a 17th century palazzo, and has been modernized into a wonderful set of 11 or so spacious rooms with great bathrooms and a  pleasant lobby space. Our room also has a balcony from which we can see the sea and the tops of some interesting nearby buildings.

Malta has a complicated history including being controlled by the Romans, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, British, Spanish, Turks, Arabs, French, Italians, and more (not in that order); during WWII they were bombed extensively by the Germans and the Italians. And the Inquisition lasted until 1798. The Maltese language is tied historically to the Arabs, they drive like the Brits on the opposite side of the road. The food is a true combination of all of the cultures who created the island. There are London style public telephone booths scattered around, although I don’t know if they are functional or decorative. The food is clearly fusion. Another point of note, apparently Malta was the most bombed place in the world during WWII; 154 days and nights and 6,700 tons of bombs.

Facts: Malta is really tiny—about 17 miles by 7 miles and only has 40,000 people. Valletta, the capital is only 1 kilometer by 600 meters (.6 miles by less than 1.2 mile). So everything is really close and I assume that everyone knows everyone?

We strolled the narrow streets that change in elevation and have tons of steps that rise and fall depending on location. Throughout the walk, music is wafting in the background—Classical, Beatles, punk, and more from the open windows and radios of residents and contractors. We walked about three miles by then and tried to stay on the shaded side of the street. After a brief stop for a light lunch, we headed to the ferry which involved us getting in the middle of a wedding (or maybe two weddings—hard to say) that was taking place at an outdoor high-end restaurant and hotel, as we walked to the ferry. We had decided to take the 15 minute ferry to what is called “the three cities.” And then we walked some more… always “protected” by the many, many statues and reliefs of saints throughout the area.

Eventually we took the ferry back (Oh- turns out the wedding folks were on our ferry and they were all dressed up and walking to another venue—but perhaps it was another wedding; hard to say). Then we walked back to the hotel and set out for dinner… at Taste, which like many of the restaurants have most of their tables outside. And many, like Taste are located on streets that slope precariously down toward the sea; the streets are actually all stairs that are about 2.5’ deep non a 16% slope (I think).

So they all have little tables whose base fits on the 2.5’ stair and chairs that also fit. If there are more than two people they use two tables, one on each step.. so the table tops don’t line up. The tables and chairs line the entire street as the restaurants sort of blur one to the other. People going from one street to another are walking between two sets of tables. But it all seems to work. (Photos of this arrangement to follow tomorrow.)

Tomorrow we will rent a car and drive north to take the longer ferry to Gozo, a separate island, where we will explore Victoria and have lunch… and be back for dinner. We’ll use the car on the subsequent days to explore the island more… On Wednesday we shift hotels to stay in Mdina for our last two nights here. Mdina is really only a 20 minute drive, but we thought it might be fun to be in another setting while we are here. I may regret that decision when I start packing and unpacking for this mini-trip. While we could probably rely on buses and taxis, it seems like a car will enable us to feel more free to roam around and stop and go as we please. 

14,000 steps today!! And lots of stairs.

Take care-

Fern