MALTA: Valletta, the Capital City

We're now at the part of our Malta trip (from April!) that is the most important to most tourists:  Valletta, the capital city of the Maltese Islands.  Do you notice how I have saved it for the end!?!  Well...almost the end, that is.  I still have two more posts, but...that's then and this is now.

Here we are, again, getting our bearings.

Remember how we did the Grand Harbour tour around Valletta last post?

Today we will be inside Valletta, as well as looking out beyond.

In fact, if you lay that Valletta peninsula on the top map on its side, this is what you get.

It has two natural harbors, Marsamxett Harbour and the Grand Harbour (which we saw last post).

The city itself is only 0.8 sq. km., the smallest national capital in the European Union.

Because it's the start and finish of every trip we took to Valletta,

we'll start with the bus terminal next to the big Triton Fountain, installed in 1959.

From the bus terminal, you walk a few meters through the gate of the city,

and immediately see the stairs to the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

But more on that next week.

For now, the gardens are a high vantage point to The Three Cities
across the Grand Harbour, as well as to inland vistas of Malta far away.

But if you don't climb up the garden steps, you walk straight through the city center.

Remember St. John's Co-Cathedral (top-left)?  

That's right off the main drag.

In fact, that's also where we found a delightful Wi-Fi spot, twice,

for lunch and liquid refreshment (English hard ciders).

We had very poor internet reception at our hotel,

so this was a perfect solution.

You may recall me saying that Valletta was ruled by the Brits for 150 years.

You feel and see and taste their influence everywhere.

It's one of those cities where you just...walk around!

Doesn't that fountain (middle left) remind you of Rome?

Speaking of which, so did the cats, which the Maltese clearly love.

Because the peninsula is so narrow, you can see the harbors on either side,

as you look up and down the side streets.

Does this city remind you of anywhere else???

Well, at least the hilly part, yes:  San Francisco!

And, yes, we climbed up and down.

There are 25 churches in Valletta within the space of its 900 x 630 meters.

(Malta and Gozo combined have 359 churches!)

Besides St. John's Co-Cathedral, we entered two other churches.

I have no clue which one this is...

But this is the Basilica of Our Lady of St. Carmel, from 1570,

one of Valletta's most famous churches.

In fact, that's a good segue to another vantage point from somewhere UP in the city.

That's the St. Carmel Basilica (top-right)...within Valletta.

But The Three Cities are off in the distance across the harbor,
much of which we saw on our Grand Harbour cruise.

Is this all starting to run together for you?

Well, it still does for me, too, not knowing where one leaves off and the other begins.

But that's the next Malta post...The Three Cities...followed by Gozo, the other island.

And then, yes, we'll be (drum roll) finally d o n e.