Malta
Golfing
in the Knights' headquarters
What to see
Carved out honey-colored limestone,
Valetta, Malta's fortress capital, juts into the
sea like a warship, its decks packed with Sicilian baroque
churches and Renaissance-era villas and its rectangular streets.
Walter Scott said it was "a city built by gentlemen for
gentlemen".
This 16th-century walled city is beautifully preserved, small
enough to walk through in a few hours without sweating too
much in the Mediterranean sun. In fact, streets were rectangularly
laid out by La Valette to channel in cool breezes coming from
the sea. Therefore Valetta is a rough rectangle at the top
of a peninsula on Malta's northeast coast, hundred meters
across the sea in either direction northern, eastern or southern.
From the walled City Gate at the
southwest edge of Valetta, one walk through a series of squares
surrounded by cathedrals and palaces. One of the grandest
is the Auberge de Castille, the
former palace of the Spanish and Portuguese langue
(a division of the Order of St John). It's now the office
of the prime minister and closed to the public. It is located
just nearby the scenic St Ursula
stairs street which is so narrow that front neighbours could
shake hands over the street through their famous Maltese bow-windows.
For Valetta is a great place for strolling in colourful crowded
streets, often adorned with historical or religious scenery
depending on the daily event (there are more than hundred
saints patrons or historical re-enactments per year). And
here and there, stays, anacronical, an ancient typical red
phone box, reminiscence of the long British occupation.
.
The main drag, Republic Street,
runs straight through town from the walled City Gate to the
massive seafront fortress of St. Elmo, along St.
John's Co-Cathedral, where the knights sought
divine assistance before their crusades. Behind a bland facade,
the cathedral blazes with warmth and color, from its gilt
ceiling and altar to a floor completely paved with tomb covers
of brilliantly inlaid red, green and yellow marble. And, adding
to all this luster, two superb Caravaggios: "The Beheading
of St. John the Baptist" and "St. Jerome."
Farther down Republic Street on Great Siege Square
stands the Palace of the Grand Masters of the
Knights of Malta, who lived here in appropriately
grand style, amid tapestries and magnificent trompe l'oeil
paintings. The palace is now both the home of the Maltese
president and the seat of parliament which deprive visitors
of the view of the Pinto's clock and its has four dials showing,
besides the time, the day, the month and the phases of the
moon. The hours are struck by bronze effigies of Moorish slaves
wielding sledge-hammers.
Another favorite walk circled Valetta's massive walls. From
the parapets, of Upper Barraka Gardens, panoramic views of
the capital's huge Grand Harbour
unfolded, revealing a teeming nautical pageant of cruise liners,
warships and sailboats. Far below the luzzi, Malta's traditional
fishing boats, are striped in reds, greens and blues, and
still bearing the painted eyes in the prow that the ancient
Phoenicians thought would ward off evil spirits.
Deep inside the walls, are the preserved Lascaris
War Rooms, the World War II complex where Eisenhower
and Montgomery were charting on giants' map their crusade
to liberate Italy.
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A good way for visiting Valetta
Valetta's harbour
Exceptional Cathedral of Knights
St Ursula stairs street
Anacronical red phone box
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