Malta

Our second day of the cruise after departing Monte Carlo was spent at sea, listening to Blues music and relaxing on deck.

Our third full day of our cruise landed us on Malta, an Island in the Mediterranean Sea,  a little south of Sicily.

As our ship cruised very slowly into port, we got a lot of great views of the very old city of Valletta, the present day capital of Malta.

We had a fairly long guided tour in Malta.  It consisted of some bus travel and some walking.  We went to two different cities.  Besides Valletta we also went to Mdina, a fortified medieval town.  Above is Marlene as we walked through the narrow streets of Valletta, on our way to the cathedral below.

The church pictured above is the Co- Cathedral of St. John.  It was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. It was built by the Order of St. John between 1572 and 1577,  The order of St. John, also known as the Knights of Malta received the Maltese Islands in a perpetual lease in 1530 from Charles I of Spain in exchange for the promise of one Maltese falcon a year.  It's my opinion that the King of  Spain, may have just wanted them out of Spain...but then what do I know?  The outside of this Cathedral is very plain looking but the inside is spectacular.





Virtually every square inch of this cathedral is covered in gold leaf.  We've been in some amazing cathedrals and churches, including St. Peters in Rome, but this one would have to rank up with the most amazing, inside at least. 

The floors of the cathedral are covered in elaborately designed marble tombstones. Here many of the Knights of Malta were buried.

 There are also many paintings in the cathedral by a famous artist by the name of  Caravaggio.  Some of his paintings are in the Louvre and in Rome. The huge one  above is in one of the side chapels.

The main altar of St. John's Co-Cathedral

After visiting the Cathedral of St. John, we went just a short distance to the Residence of the Headmaster of the Malta Knights, and the attached Armory.  These pictures were taken inside the Armory.  They have one of the best collections of medieval armor and weapons outside of the Tower of London.

Marlene gazing at some of the suits of Armor

We then set out from Valletta a few miles by bus to the walled medieval town of Mdina,  Above is part of the wall surrounding the town.  The town was the original capital of Malta.  The grassy area was just about the only green I saw while in Malta.  Below is the main entrance to the city.  If you look closely you can see Marlene in the crowd entering the city.

The main town square in Mdina.

Above is a view of the Maltese countryside taken from one of the outside walls of Mdina

After visiting  Mdina we headed back to the ship, for one more full day at sea and then a return to Barcelona, and the next stage of our vacation.  (Can you take a vacation from retirement?)

As we left we had a final amazing view of the Maltese fortress.