VALLETTA, MALTA
This morning, at around 9am, we arrived in Valletta, on the island of Malta. Once again, we were not booked on any excursions; instead, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, gathered our going-out things together, and went ashore at about 10:30am.
We had a rough plan, but were happy to be distracted and swayed by anything that we might stumble across in our meaderings. We’ve been to Valletta several times before and knew what to expect, so our aims were very modest.
We began by walking from the cruise terminal along the quayside, to the Barrakka Lift that swiftly transports visitors from sea-level to the top of the escarpment, and to the Upper Barrakka Gardens. We weren’t the only ones to question the fee of €1, believing it to have been free to OAPs previously. Not that I’m an OAP yet, but a couple who shared the lift with us raised the question. At the end of the day, €1 isn’t a lot to pay, considering the ticket allows access to the lift as many times as you like, up or down, throughout the day.
The Upper Barrakka Gardens are a joy to walk around, and provide a good starting point for anyone visiting the city for the first time. The views across the harbour are quite splendid, and if you stick around until noon every day, you’ll witness the firing of the noonday gun from the Saluting Battery.
That wasn’t on our itinerary today, however. We did hear it, though, as we headed for the footpath that weaves its way around the outside of the harbour wall. We paused briefly at the Siege Bell Memorial before climbing the steps down to the perimeter, then headed for the footpath that goes around the outside of the wall, below ‘The Malta Experience’ and ‘Fort St Elmo’, to the pointy end of the city where the ships come in an out. There’s a bridge there, and a long breakwater that remains locked and inaccessible, and is known as Pont Saint Elmo. We paused here for water and photos, sitting down upon an old iron capston, which unfortunately managed to virtually write off a pair of perfectly good white trousers of Tracey’s; no amount of washing in the launderette later on seems to have shifted the marks it left, leaving her with no choice but to buy a replacement pair from the ships shop.
Beyond this point, the footpath, such as it is, curves around the headland into St Elmo Bay where several divers were wetsuiting-up in preparation for a dive – presumeably to see the wreck of HMS Maori, that lies in that very bay.
An arched walkway brought us, eventually, back into the main body of the city, and by this time we were starting to think about lunch, so we found a small cafe (Kuncett) that served up a cheese platter, polenta fries and a couple of well-earned beers.
After our light lunch, we continued on our way, gradually heading towards the City Gate, and found ourselves being invited into a pop-up art exhibition. It was a brilliant space to exhibit (134 Old bakery Street); a large old building with many rooms and staircases, and one of the young artists who were showing their work there, Pierre Peroucini, explained that they were a collective of seven painters who had travelled there from Rome. He was such a pleasant chap, but we did start to worry, as we were stood standing and talking to him in that confined space, that we might catch Covid.
We wished the artists well and continued on our way. Just outside the City Gate, by the impressive Triton Fountain (which would have been even more impressive if it actually had water spouting from it), there was a large family fun day in progress, along with several stages being set up, presumably in readiness for next weeks jubilee celebrations.
Beyond the fountain is the bus station, followed by some ornate gardens, headed by an independence momument and flanked by a large church (Knisja ta ‘San Publiju). In front of the church is St Publius Square; an impressive open area with unusual flooring, known as The Granaries.
Our meanderings concluded a little further on, at the Argotti Botanical Gardens, which would appear to be undergoing some major renovations and currently isn’t fully open. It did provide us with some great views across the Eastern parts of the city before we decided it was time to be making our way back to terminal.
The afternoon ended with a beer in the lower lounge of the ship known as ‘The Living Room’, which took us up to Covid-testing-time at 4pm (it was negative…).
In the evening, we were a little late to dinner. After that, we were in the mood for a show, and went along to The Playhouse to watch a spectacular ‘aerial dancing’ peformance by two very young and fit Ukrainians, called ‘Duo Sensation’.
The clocks go forward tonight, and it’s back to work tomorrow…. so, that’ll be an early night then…
