Last night our Captain urged us to rise by seven if we wanted to enjoy the picturesque approach to Malta’s capital, Valletta. Picturesque is one of my favorite words, so I took his advice to heart. A bit too much to heart, as it turns out; I woke at 5:30 without a prayer of returning to blissful slumber. (I’m the sort who, if I know I have to be up extra early, lies wide awake in bed thinking “if I fall asleep now I can still get four hours … three hours … two hours …etc.”)
Every bleary eye has a silver lining, or something like that. I was up in plenty of time for a glorious sunrise, followed by a sail into Valletta’s harbor that was every bit as scenic as the Captain promised.
Valletta’s majestic limestone buildings and walls glowed under the sun’s early rays.
I visited Malta in 2019, accompanied by my mother, who celebrated her 85th birthday here. We spent five days visiting archeological sites, ambling through the old walled city of Mdina, marveling at the famed Blue Lagoon, and otherwise absorbing Malta’s charms – most of it, alas, in a persistent drizzle/steady rain.
As a result, I didn’t sign up for any tours on this second visit (I’m a Single Malt(a) kind of guy). I figured I’d already posted about the experience and would use this visit to clamber around Valletta’s hilly streets.
I had indeed posted about the visit, but when I went back to read what I’d written, I found it foucsed almost on food and drink. That’s understandable in Malta, whose cuisine is a phenomenal fusion of North African, Italian, Middle Eastern, and other gastronomies. Nowhere did I talk about what we saw; I must have discussed the sights in captions to the photos I posted on Facebook.
With no tours booked, I rambled around Valletta for several hours this morning and renewed my affection for this history-drenched city. (Fortunately, there was no actual drenching this time, unlike my prior visit.)
Valletta sits on a bluff high above the harbor. If you’re on foot, there are two ways to get up there: a lift (cost, one Euro) or stairs. Having left my wallet(a) back on the ship, I turned an oversight into a virtue by ascending the 276 steps, stopping along the way to catch some interesting graffiti along with my breath.
The city is home to colossal edifices (churches, cathedral, fortress, the city wall), broad plazas, and narrow streets.
Mustard-colored (Gulden’s, not French’s) limestone buildings with enclosed balconies, dating to the 16th century, march rhythmically along the roads.
Flags and flowers provide flashes of color, occasionally even brighter than the tourists’ shirts.
Shops that look like they’ve been around since Valletta’s founding compete with gleaming fashion emporia.
Cafes abound, serving (I can vouch from experience) robust espresso and savory sandwiches. (Oops, there I go focusing on food again!)
I’d guess most travelers don’t give Malta much thought as a destination, but missing this gem of a city and island would be a mistake. Squarely between Europe (Sicily is only fifty miles away) and Africa (Tunisia is 150 miles distant), Malta is a visual and gustatory delight, and I read somewhere that the souvenirs are pretty good, too.
PuffinlessTravel 