The Silent City of Mdina

Adam and Rosalind went for an early morning run around the bays and told us that it was a lot easier than Positano as it was very flat and the pavements were very broad and a slight breeze off the sea made it very enjoyable. While they were doing that I exercised my pillow.
After breakfast our first objective was the city of Mdina:
‘The jewel in the crown of central Malta and an absolute must see, is Mdina, once the ancient walled capital of Malta. It is a stunning town perched loftily on a crag about ten kilometres west of Valletta, and its quiet streets ooze history and refinement. In the early morning and late afternoon, especially, this is the kind of place that has you talking in whispers so as not to disturb the peace.’ We were no exception and found ourselves talking in hushed voices and walking softly, just luxuriating in the peaceful atmosphere.
‘Mdina has a population of only 370 people and included in that is a closed order on nuns, who once they enter they never leave for any reason and are in fact buried within the walls of the order when they die. The citadel of Mdina was fortified from the early days of recorded history. As long ago as 1000 BCE the Phoenicians had built a protective wall here and called their settlement Malet, meaning ‘place of shelter’. The Romans built a large town here and called it Melita (which I think means honey for which it was famous). It was given its present name when the Arabs settled here in the 9th century – Madina is Arabic for ‘walled city’. They built strong walls and dug a deep moat between Mdina and the nearby town,350 metres away, just outside the city walls, known as Rabat.
In medieval times Mdina was also known as Citta Notabile – the Noble City. It was a favoured residence of the Maltese aristocracy and the seat of the ‘universita’ or governing council. The Knights of St John, who were largely a sea-based force, made Grand Harbour and Valetta their centre of activity, and Mdina sank into the background as a retreat of the Maltese nobility. Today with its massive walls and peaceful, shady streets, it is often referred to as the silent city.
One of the major sites is St Paul’s Cathedral said to be built on the site of the villa belonging to Publius, the Roman Governor of Malta who welcomed St Paul in AD 60.

St Paul was shipwrecked while on his way to be tried in Rome, and was shipwrecked on the North East corner of Malta in a bay that is now known as St Paul’s bay and there is a large statue on a rock at the entrance to St Paul’s bay to commemorate this event. St Paul stayed for over three months and during that time converted the people of Malta to Christianity, with the Maltese people claiming that they were the first Christian nation.



Just outside the gate to Mdina




The gateway into Mdina



The main street of Mdina

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We had lunch at the outdoor restaurant of the Xara Palace hotel, the only hotel in Mdina and it is an exclusive five star hotel on one of Mdina’s 17th century palazzos. There are 17 luxury suites, each with cable TV, a stereo music centre and modem connection, though I expect that these modern communications ‘necessities’ would gather more dust than get a workout from guests enjoying the silence and peace that in Mdina. The hotel also has a gym, sauna, atrium bar and a rooftop fine dining restaurant.
In keeping with Christian traditions there are memorials to many saints one of which is St Agatha, a 3rd century Christian martyr from Sicily – Catania and Palermo both claim to be her birthplace, who fled to Malta to escape the amorous advances of a Sicilian governor. On returning to Sicily she was imprisoned and tortured, and her breasts were cut off with shears, a horrific punishment that is gruesomely depicted, as Christians seem want to do, in many painting and statues in Malta. She was then burnt at the stake. There is a chapel dedicated to St Agatha in Mdina and catacombs in Rabat that are said to have been her hiding place in Malta.

www.geocities.com/maltatemples/.

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Sheila and Adam with Rosalind, in the background is the island of Filfla, 8 kms offshore.
It was used for target practice by the British armed forces until it was declared a nature reserve in 1970.It supports important breeding colonies of seabirds, including an estimated 10,000 pairs of storm petrels, and a unique species of lizard. Landing on the island is forbidden though I suspect that it is more to do with unexploded ordnance than protecting stormy petrels.
href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7450/1861/1600/725782/PIC01605.jpg">We were pleased to have seen the temples because of their age, but honestly I think that the are many other sites that are of more interest unless one is obsessed with megalithic stuff. Adam had organised the taxi to wait for us so we left quite soon and headed back to our hotel on the other side of the island, a trip that took about twenty minutes. We had a little siesta, Adam and Rosalind came to our room at 1855 to tell us that they had heard on the news that there had been a military coup in Thailand. It became quickly apparent that the coup had the tacit approval of the king and as such it would be successful as most Thais worship their king as the reincarnation of Vishnu and will follow his guidance without question. It seems that whenever we go on holiday there is always something of significance occurs. A couple of years ago we were in Phuket just about a week after the Tsunami.
For dinner we went to another open air restaurant next door to the one we went to last night. This one is called ‘Paparazzi’ and is a prime people watching spot, with a great view of Spinola bay. It is a bit kitsch having such things as a ‘Cheeky Chick Burger’, and ‘Octopussy Salad’, but it made a change and we all had hamburgers and chips to make a change from our normal exotic cuisine.

Wandering back to the hotel we had some gelato and watched CNN to get updates on the coup in Thailand and it confirmed Adam’s assessment that it would be a ‘bloodless’ coup and would not be a major problem for foreigners living in Thailand.

First day exploring Malta

We walked the few metres back to our hotel and a roadside restaurant underneath it, Sheila, Rosalind and Adam all had steaks, which they had missed in Positano while I had roast chicken and vegetables. We all enjoyed the change from seafood and tomato which was mostly the only choices in southern Italy.
Sheila and I decided to have an early night, while Adam and Rosalind went for just a quick drink in ‘H. The quick drink lasted until 0100 but that is about par for the course with Adam. I woke at 0245 thinking that it was time to get up and could not get back to sleep.
We had ordered breakfast in our rooms for 0700 but they were late being delivered and very continental i.e. not much to it. We were packed and ready to go at 0830 as we wanted to arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare and cater for the vagaries of Italian organisation.
Ah well the nightmare of the Rome road labyrinth was repeated and we saw the colosseum from close quarters at least three times. The pouring rain did not help and the only road signs we found were ones that informed us that the last turn that we made was NOT the one we wanted, and you only get to see it after you have committed to drive down a particular road. Eventually we found ourselves on the Via Cristoforo Columbus, we could have done with his help earlier, heading south west and on our way to the airport, hurrah!

Adam returned the car with no problems, they accepted it with no comments about the few slight scratches, my guess that it was returned it a lot better condition than many other hire cars.
Rome airport is DYSFUNCTIONAL, and it took ages for the very long queues at immigration to be processed while staff were busy gossiping to each other, and constantly tidying their dirty unkempt uniforms. However our early departure from the hotel meant that we got onto our flight ok, despite the airport staff.
It was just over a hour flight to Malta during which time we were served an excellent lunch by the very friendly and efficient Air Malta crew. We had great views of the whole island as we flew down the east coast to Luqa airport. All of us were very impressed with the clean modern terminal, which seemed to function well, until we had to wait twenty minutes for our luggage. Adam as usual had organised a car to meet us and it only took a little wrestling to get all our cases in the boot of the large Mercedes.
When we arrived twenty minutes later at the Hotel Juliana in St Julian’s bay we were met with the news that, “unfortunately there has been a double booking and your reservation is now for one day less.”
To which Adam replied “no it is not I have copies of the e-mails that confirm all the dates of our bookings”.
“Yes I know sir, the fault is ours and we would like you to consider the option of moving to the Intercontinental hotel and we will pay for the difference in the cost of their rooms and the cost of ours.”
“My wife and I are prepared to go to the Intercontinental hotel and look at their location and rooms and see if we are prepared to move” was Adam’s very measured response.
Sheila and I stayed at reception while Adam and Rosalind went by taxi, paid for by the hotel, to view the Intercontinental option. They returned after half an hour and Adam very calmly announced, “ no that is not an option that we accept, we will stay in the rooms that we have booked, but I am happy to consider any other options that you might care to put to me with regard to our last night in Malta.
We unpacked in rooms that we were very pleased with and enjoyed the view of St Julian’s Bay from our balconies at the front of the hotel. Once we were settled we went for a walk around the bay and had a coffee in a little bay side café, definitely a lot cheaper and better value than in Italy. When we got back to the hotel Adam Sheila and I went for a swim in the roof top pool. Rosalind settled for a nap I think because of the previous late night caused by Adam and his excursion for a little walk and drink.
Dinner was booked at the restaurant along side the roof top pool so that we did not have far to go and could enjoy the night time vista. The range of options on the menu was extensive and the quality and quantity of food that we got was superb. We had an early night feeling very positive about this next part of our holiday.



Sheila on our balcony overlooking St Julian’s bay



Rosalind and Adam on their balcony next to ours with the waterfront restaurants in the background.


The front of our hotel, with our rooms behind the first and second balconies from the left, on the second floor of the new part, behind the old façade.



One of the many horse drawn carriages that are very popular with tourists, they are called Gharries, I think from memory.

Monday 18th September 2006
Sheila and I were up early to a very clear blue sky and pleasant temperature. We had an early breakfast in the coffee lounge, just off the foyer. There was plenty of options and large quantities of each from a variety of ‘Bain maries’. After breakfast we took a bag of clothes along to a laundry that we had seen the night before, just a short walk around the bay. When we returned Adam and Rosalind had just finished their breakfast. Adam also had a little chat with the General Manager of the hotel with regard to options about the last night and left it with the General Manager to come up with an acceptable proposal.
We took a local bus from just across the road from the hotel to the ferry terminal in Sliema.
In its long and turbulent history, the diminutive island nation of Malta, (27 km by 15 km) smaller than the Isle of Weight and Martha’s Vineyard, has often assumed an importance out of all proportion to its size. It has served as a stepping stone between Europe and Africa, a guardian of imperial trading routes and a launching pad for invasions.
In recent history Malta has been regarded as an inexpensive holiday destination because it is sunny for three hundred days a year, the sea is very clear and warm; accommodation is great value with an abundance of high quality, reasonably priced restaurants and night clubs in resort areas.

Added to this is some dramatic costal scenery and excellent opportunities for snorkelling and scuba diving.
Malta’s true highlights are not its beaches, however, and this sun and sand image does not do the country enough justice.. What makes Malta a unique destination is that so much of its intriguing past is visible today – from 5,000 year old temples to immense fortifications built by the Knights of St John in the 16th century to withstand the Turkish invasion and attempt to crush the Knights of St John. A few days off the beaches will confirm that there is much to discover and find wonderful: the magnificent fortified capital of Valletta, named after Grand Master Jean Parisot De Valette, who was seventy one years old when he lead the successful defence of Malta in 1565; ‘history encased on golden stone’ was how the novelist Nichols Monsarrat described it. Valletta with its glorious Grand Harbour and bustling Mediterranean street life; stone built towns and villages with their idiosyncratic baroque churches and exuberant annual feats; the mysterious prehistoric temples that are the world’s oldest man made structures, and archaeological finds that pre-date Egypt’s pyramids, the elegant, medieval fortress town of Mdina; and if anyone wants to get away from it all, the smaller and quieter island of Gozo with its quaint landscape of flat-topped hills and towering cliffs provide further evidence that good things come in small packages!
From the terminal we had a short wait to get a ferry boat from Sliema to Valetta. The bus fare was just eighty cents each and the boat $1.20 each. The ferry took us between Manoel Island and Dragut Point on Tigne headland. Dragut point was named after the famous Barbary Corsair who assisted the Turks during the 16th century siege while over eighty years of age. Dragut was guiding cannon on Tigne headland in their bombardment of Fort St Elmo, when he was fatally wounded by a stone splinter from a cannon shot from St Elmo.



On the way we saw this very large private yacht passing Dragut point, our research afterwards indicated that it belongs to a very rich Russian gentleman.



Fort St Elmo from the northern side, Valetta is just to the right hand side of St Elmo




John, Sheila and Rosalind, with Valetta to the right hand side and St Elmo on the left

We walked around the northern edge of Valletta to Fort St Elmo which now houses the War museum dedicated to the defence of Malta during the Second World War. The displays looked a bit old and tired, but this initial reaction passed when we appreciated the significance of the exhibits. There are many photographs of warships etc and much memorabilia including uniforms and guns. For me the highlights were the George Cross that was awarded to the Island of Malta recognising the bravery of all of its citizens during World War II and the fuselage of one of the three Gloucester Gladiator biplanes, ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’ that were the total of the air force for much of the defence of Malta at the beginning of the bombing from the Axis powers based in Scilly just 67 miles away. In fact more bombs were dropped on Malta than were dropped on London. The next photographs are of inside the museum.





The fuselage of one of the Gloucester Gladiator biplanes that were the Malta air force, with Sheila and Adam.

We spent a lot longer time in the museum than I expected, and although not air-conditioned it provided a haven from the strong sun outside.
After leaving the museum we kept walking around the eastern edge of Valetta until we came to a sign indicating a pictorial history of Malta called the ‘Malta Experience’. It is in an underground theatre in the basement of the Mediterranean Conference Centre in the Sacra Infermeria, the 16th century hospital of the Knights of St John. www.themaltaexperience.com The 45 minute audio visual presentation provides a good introduction to Malta especially for first-time visitors. The presentation has 12 different languages available for the soundtrack; it showcases the country’s long history highlighting many of its scenic attractions.
After the show we had to contemplate the stairs back up to the surface and as Sheila suffers with her legs in the heat and walking I noticed some lifts next to the toilets and suggested that we take that option. “Good idea” proclaimed Sheila, but when the lift doors closed there appeared to be only one button to select so as one is never sure what floor one is on I just pushed that and we exited the lift when it stopped. We found ourselves in a very ornate stone corridors along which were various archways and about half a dozen suits of armour.

“Nah I don’t think that we should be here” I concluded and after taking a quick picture we went back into the lift and to the floor from where we came and then climbed the stairs back to the outside where Adam and Rosalind were waiting.



The ornate corridor in the Sacra Infermeria that is not the way to get back outside.

We then walked to a headland overlooking Grand harbour and across the harbour to Fort St Angelo that was the last surviving bastion in the south of Malta during the Great Siege.
One of my favourite books describes the Turkish siege very well:
‘The Great Siege: Malta 1565’ Ernle Bradford, published by Wordsworth Military Library; (1999) ISBN 1 84022 206 9



Adam and Rosalind next to the carillon at the northern entrance to Grand Harbour



Adam and Rosalind with Grand Harbour behind them with Fort St Angelo on the left, then Senglea and Fort St Michael just to the right of centre.

We walked into the centre of Valletta, just a five minute walk (Valletta is barely a kilometre long and 600 metes wide, and had lunch at a street side café on the main street called Triq ir-Repubblika, (Republic Street) which runs in a straight line northeast from the City Gate, where there is a major bus terminal, to Fort St Elmo, passing through Great Siege Square Republic Square and St Georges Square. Two major sites of interest are on Republic Street they are St John’s Co-Cathedral and The Grand Master’s Palace. I found myself taking lots of pictures of the very picturesque streets so have only included a sample of the many that we have on disc.



A small street being explored by Adam and Rosalind





Sheila proudly showing off the doorway to ‘her’ shop



Republic Street in Valletta, the main street. During the afternoon siesta from 1230 until 1630 it is mostly deserted apart from a few tourists wandering around as all the shops shut for the siesta with only a couple of cafes serving mad dogs out in the mid day sun.



A view from Valletta across Manoel Island to Sliema in the background.



We found the variety of balconies fascinating



We walked back to the ferry and then caught the local bus back from Sliema to our hotel in St Julian’s Bay. Being more familiar with Malta I insisted in ushering everyone off the bus when we got to the stop in St Julian’s Bay; however it was the wrong bay and Adam Sheila and Rosalind were compliant but bemused as to why they had been asked to get off at Balluta Bay. Our hotel is in fact in Spinola Bay, a small inlet off of the ‘larger’ St Julian’s Bay.

My mistake turned out to be fortuitous as when we were walking back to our hotel we passed the laundry/newsagent and as we passed one of the owners, Tony Albanese, called out to us and said that our laundry was there ready for collection. The extra walk also meant that we had an opportunity to but some gelato, and opportunity that was taken with alacrity.
Adam booked dinner at a Greek restaurant just three minutes walk from the hotel, it is called Bouzouki and our table was right by the waterfront in an excellent position to see the sights and enjoy the warm balmy evening. The food was superb and we had a great night.
By the way Adam had concluded his discussions with the General Manager of our hotel and had agreed that we would vacate our rooms one night earlier than originally booked. In return we would be taken by taxi to Luqa airport then flown by helicopter to the Island of Gozo where we would be taken by taxi to a five star health resort for the night and then back by helicopter to Luqa airport the following morning for our flight to Bangkok via Rome. We all agreed that Adam had fixed up a deal that we thought was ‘pretty reasonable’.

Fort St Elmo
A private yacht owned by a Russian The George cross awarded to Malta





The outside of our hotel
Grand Harbour





Republic Street the main street of Vallatta
A view from Valletta across Manoel Island to Sliema
Some balconies in Valletta

Sheila on the balcony of our hotel

Sorry for the delay

In the 'H' bar on the Via Veneto in Rome




All the preparations and enjoyment of Xmas meant that I did not have time to post anything, also I had exceeded my download/upload limit on 16th December so I thought I should be a little more circumspect so I have included some ytext and will up-load some of the photos later I think.:
'Saturday 16th September
We had to vacate the villa by 1100 and this included an inspection by Fortunata and the return of a 500 Euro bond that had been held by Fortunata against any damage or necessary major cleaning. In fact we were ready to go at 1000 with no problems.
Because Adam had the previous experience of the road via Meta, near Sorrento we made good time to the outskirts of Napoli even though there were a few showers of rain.
The drivers wee encountered however were diabolical, far worse than on the way down from Rome. Most of them appeared to subscribe to the view that if they drive faster they will get home, out of the rain, sooner. It would seem that many of them do not think that their rear vision mirrors or wing mirrors serve any purpose that they can consider while driving.
We stoped at an ‘Auto-Grill’ to get fuel, food and drink, just past the very impressive Monte Casino with the abbey on the crest of a mountain.
At the ‘Auto-Grill’ and I thought that a service station was a reasonable place to look for automotive products like a polishing cloth to try and finish polishing out some of the scrape marks on the car before it was returned at the end of the hire. No it was not a reasonable place at which one could buy things automotive (apart from fuel).

There were about five large shops where we could purchase food and drink and in one shop a whole roasted pig and a ‘mortadella’ that would have weighed over 200 kilograms. Adam and I tried to imagine the conversation in an Italian car on their way to the ‘Auto-grill’ “Hey Maria, while I fill up with the fuel you go and buy a whole roast pig so we can have a snack on the way”, “Sure Luigi and while I am there I will buy a 200 kilos of mortadella just in case we are still hungry.
As we approached Rome I made sure that I had the map to hand and navigated our way to the Via Veneto, where our hotel was located. We drove down the length of the Via Veneto, and then back up the length of the Via Veneto and none of the four pairs of eyes located our hotel, the ‘Residenza A’ boutique art hotel. Of course the street address was in a bag in the boot of the car. So Adam parked near the top of the Via Veneto and Adam got the street number from one of his bags. Armed with this intelligence we started to drive back down the Via Veneto and as we whizzed back down the street I glimpsed the number on a large wooden door next to the Rolex shop. Of course there was no parking on the Via Veneto and Adam did a series of quick left turns and then managed to find a parking spot in a quiet street. Sheila and I stayed with the car while Adam and Rosalind ‘found’ the hotel and checked about the parking situation. Adam came running back to the car, out of breath, gasping that they had found the hotel, and now Rosalind was guarding a parking spot on the roadside just around the corner from the hotel. We drove quickly to the spot which Rosalind was guarding and parked successfully, putting enough money in the parking meter to last until 0830 on Sunday morning. We dragged our cases to the large old wooden door that looked more like an access to a barn than a hotel and then saw a brass plate about six inches by four inches with the words ‘Residenza Hotel’. It was among six other brass plates advertising other tenants of the building. How anyone would be able to identify it while driving past in a car is beyond me.
Rosalind ‘buzzed’ via the intercom set in the wall and we were quickly admitted to a very large dark cobblestone porch, by a young man who escorted us to a very old fashioned lift that has the two sets of expanding metal grill doors. The lift only accommodates two people and their luggage at a time, so the young man ushered us into the lift for two trips while he rushed up the stairs each time to meet the lift and help extract the luggage.
To everyone who makes the art of relaxation an integral part of their lifestyle, they introduce the Boutique Art Hotel. It looks out over the Via Veneto, and is only a short stroll away from the Villa Borghese with its celebrated art gallery. This prestigious hotel put its guests within easy reach of the museums, historic places, and most famous shopping streets of the Eternal City. Designed in an elegant minimalist style, the trend setting Boutique Art Hotel is at the cutting edge of fashion, embellished inside with famous works of art and regular photographic exhibitions. The Boutique Art Hotel is dedicated to the business clientele and travellers who love cities renowned for art, museums, historic places, cultural sites, theatres, music and ballet, and who do not wish to sacrifice the enjoyment of a high-class elegant environment even during work visits.
That description is from their brochure mine is a little more succinct:
Very small hotel, only about ten rooms, but very modern in the décor and fittings which are great, it is very ‘high tech’.
In our room were a couple of paintings by a Stefania Di Filippo stefydifilippo@yahoo.it and we were very impressed and have included pictures from a small catalogue that was in our room.


Stefania Di Filippo (Artist)



Stefania Di Filippo (Artist)




‘Sguardo Himba’ Stefania Di Filippo



‘Sguardo’ Stefanania Di Filippo



‘Linguaggio Primitivo’ Stefania Di Filippo


Adam took us for a wander down the Via Veneto and then the Via Condotti, the shopping street, at the bottom of the Spanish steps. It was pouring with rain and we were still dressed in tee shirts and shorts, Rosalind bought two umbrellas, from street hawkers, just like the last time we were in Florence. Sheila and I shared one while Adam and Rosalind shared the other. The difference in Sheila and my height meant that I did not get a lot of shelter. We walked up and won the Via Condotti along with hundreds of other tourists keen to see the ‘luxury goods’ shops. Adam looked at a pair of ‘Norwegian’ shoes and was quite keen on them, but Sheila and Rosalind persuaded him that a better shoe shop was one next to our hotel, which had a sign offering some bargains; my type of shop if there is such a place. We were feeling quite cool so we had some coffees on the way down and then on the way back to the shoe shop we had some ice creams. Just after we started eating our ice creams it started to rain even harder and Rosalind bought two more umbrellas so that we all had our own and significantly more shelter in my case.
When we got to the shoe shop both of the ladies were very disappointed as they could find nothing that they liked. However Adam bought a pair of business shoes and I was persuaded to buy a pair of ‘Guess’ casual shoes.
After shopping we were all keen to have a shower to get warm and get changed.

Soon afterwards we walked just a few metres down the road to a very trendy bar called ‘H’ and had brandies and cocktails among the Rome ‘smart set’.