November 22 Paceville Malta

I was up early again to see reenactment but it was closed so I went to the Grand Masters Palace. This is huge and very ornate palace used by the rulersin the past and still used for meetings now. Most walls and ceilings are painted but 1 room did have huge tapestries. The floors are tiled, many with crests. There is also a temporary exhibition about the 1565 Seige of Valletta. The Maltese were able to keep the Turks from invading. Lots of pieces on display from the period.

Then into the Knight's armory. Lots of suits of armor along with shields, swords and even some old guns. There were 2 huge rooms. Enough for me! I went walking. I caught the ferry over to Birgu the middle peninsula. There is a huge marina here, with some very large boats or yachts! There is a fort at the end that is surrounded by a moat. Very nice. There is not a lot of traffic here as most of the streets are pedestrian only. A nice change from the traffic everywhere else on the island. The walls around the city must be 8 to 10 metres thick. Huge! They have cut holes in walls to allow cars through.

November 21 Paceville Malta

Off early this morning. Caught the bus to the Blue Grotto and Arch. Very nice but could only look from top of cliff as it is very windy today and the boats into the grotto are not operating.

I walked along the coast for a bit to the temple area. First temple, Hagar Qim was

built about 3000BC. It is believed that these predate the pyramids and Stonehenge. There is not much know about the temples but both temples I saw today are aligned with the solstices. They are not that big is size but the stones used to construct are huge with 1 stone estimated to be 20 tonnes. How did they move these and set them up? No one knows!

Then down the hill a bit to Mnajdra temple. This one is not as old but still very impressive.

The cutting of the blocks, setting up and even cutting walk throughs in some of the large stones is really something. These are temples and not used for living. There has not been any finds of how the people lived. It is hard to imagine these being built 5000 years ago!


November 20 Paceville Malta

Weather did not look great so relaxed and took it easy....cleared up so went and had a coffee on the beach. The sun is still very warm, but the breeze is cool. There was still some people swimming but not very many.


November 19 Paceville Malta

I was up and off to Valletta early this morning. There was a Knight's reenactment I wanted to see. But when I got there, Fort St Elmo is closed! It is being used for the the heads of the Commonwealth meeting this weekend. So I went to a 5D video presentation on the history of Malta. It was very well done..and the island has a 2000 year old history of being attacked. The ticket also included a tour of the Knight's Hospital.

This had a capacity of 900 patients. Huge! The tour covered 2 floors, one for the nobility and one for the poor. A very long hallway type room that had beds on each side. There were also several toilets. Each noble patient and 3 or 4 people to a toilet for the poor.

This room is the convention centre now and will the location of the dinner while the Royal family is here this weekend.
Walked along the one side of the peninsula of Valletta. The walls and moat around the city is huge. And then just headed back to room.


November 18 Paceville Malta

I headed towards Valletta today, I have been here 2 weeks and not been to the capital city yet.
I took another coastal walk, with some detours. I walked around the point this area is on. There is a casino at the end which apparently was an Italian house. Huge with columns around. Very nice location. I walked through a marina. Not that big, but the boats sure were. Found out later that the penthouse goes for just under 3 million euro (only $4.5m). But it is 4000 square feet! I walked along the water and had to climb over a stone fence.

This bay in Spinola. Very nice, especially the old buildings along the water. Nice to see them kept and not replaced with high rise apartments like some. I stopped and had coffee in a 250 year old hotel over looking the bay! Kept walking.... there are several little bays along the way. I went by an old apartment building that could be in Paris...beautiful. It was built in the early 1800s as well. Most of the rest of the way is newer buildings and there is still a lot of construction going on.

There are cranes everywhere! The coast is very nice. At one point there is a long stretch of solid lime stone. Lots of people out in the sun. Also some cooling pools cut into the rock that date back to the early 1900s. My book says they were rented out, sun shade included to people. I then walked around the main marina. Hundreds of boats, some huge and some small fishing boats that may be all of 10 feet. Moored on Manual island are a couple of 3 or 4 story yachts. Too big to fit elsewhere I guess.

Part way around the last bay before Valletta, I caught the ferry across. It docked on the Valletta side at the base of a huge wall from the old city. I walked up the street a bit. The streets are narrow with lots of townhouse type buildings. Each has an enclosed balcony and are 2 or 3 stories high. Very nice.

I stopped on the way back thinking I would stop a few minutes in a museum, The Fortress Builders.

Well that ended up being almost an hour and only 2 floors of the 3 were open. And it was free. What a great museum. It covered all the periods of building in Valletta and explained many things I had seen already. The towers were planned, and were to have defensive walls joining, but that never happened. They all date back to the 1600s.

Getting late so only walked to the edge of Valletta, and caught the bus back. It is not really that far when you follow the road, but I still covered about 10 km today along the coast. It was easy walking, sidewalks, roads and rocks.

November 17 Paceville Malta
Slow morning. Nice waking up and not having to go out for coffee! Coffee not as good, but it will do.
Went for a walk around the area. There is really a lot of construction. Walked to the closest sandy beach. Seems very nice, small in a narrow bay. There is not many people around.

I then decided to finish up the one of the coastal walks. I walked to the Madliena tower. I took only one hour. Very nice walking along the rocks.
Weather still great.... 22/23 in day, but seems to be cooler at night. But still in shorts, but wearing a hoodie at night.