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Published: July 29th 2023
Mdina Bridge
The bridge into Mdina, above the gardens that surround it.It was to be another exciting adventure on the buses today, this time a lot further away, so the two Euros each will be even better value. We were heading for Mdina, which is close to the centre of Malta. After an hour deciphering the Malta bus routes (slight exaggeration) we worked out that any of routes 50, 51, 52, 53 or 56 would get us there and they left from a whole another set of bus stops round the corner from the main area. We went round there and waited for which ever route arrived first. It was a 52.
Whilst Valletta itself is quite small and compact, the built-up, urban sprawl that surrounds it is surprisingly large. At a guess I'd say it almost covers a quarter of the island. The only slight downside of the buses is that, as you would expect, they're constantly stopping to pick people up and drop people off. Maybe one of the other routes was more of an express service, but who knows, we would have been there two hours if we'd tried to work that out (defeating the object of the exercise).
Once out of the sprawl, there were less
Mdina Gate
And the bridge leading across. stops and it was not very long before we could see the dramatic walled city dominating the skyline in front of us. The buses actually go to Rabat, and then it's just a short walk across a bridge, through the main gate and into Mdina.
The name is reminiscent of the Madina that we had visited ten years ago in Marrakesh (see
Lost, Harassed, Shouted At, Threatened at Gunpoint and Hiding My Daughter's Bottom) and upon entering, the city itself was reminiscent as well, with a maze of narrow streets and passageways. There were two major differences though:
1. The walls and buildings are all yellow rather than orange.
2. We were not harassed, badgered, pestered and generally bullied from the moment that we got there to the moment we left. No one offering to take us to a tannery, via their uncles' shops of course (see
You Have Just GOT to Visit the Tannery!!).
It was easy to get lost, but as it's nowhere near as big and as intimidating as the Madina in Marrakesh, we could quite happily wander randomly around without worrying, eventually ending up back at the main gate.
We came across a charming church called the Carmelite Priory. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but,
Carmelite Priory
Another stunning interior. like the Co-Cathedral in Valletta (see
Considering What Should Be On My Decorated Tombstone) it was absolutely stunning inside. There was a beautiful painted ceiling, intricately decorated statues and huge paintings all around. Again, like the Co-Cathedral, there's the main church, with a number of smaller chapels around each side. They were, rightly, very strict on being silent and any photographs needed to be discrete.
By the time that we came to the main Mdina cathedral, we decided that it was not worth €10 each to go in there, given what we had already seen. I'm sure it would have been very, very impressive though.
Rabat itself is also worth a walk round. There are Howard Gardens (named after a former Prime Minister), where the shade gave some welcome relief from the sun. It had been relatively cool the last couple of days (only relatively though), but the temperature was back up again today
The other thing to see in Rabat are the catacombs. It was a bit confusing though as there seemed to be signs for the catacombs pointing in all directions. It seems like they are spread all over the city and, whilst there are the main concentration at the St. Paul's
Mdina Architecture
A cross between Marrakech and Valletta. Catacombs, lots of competing ones are also getting in on the act. One of them was even called "St. Paul's Grotto and Catacombs", which I slightly suspect was a bit of a sneaky attempt at deception.
We found the main St. Pauls Catacombs. It's essentially in two halves on two sides of a road, so you need to leave one half and cross the road to get to the other. Needless to say, we got a bit confused and almost ended up missing one half completely.
There is one huge set of catacombs, in the first half I visited fortunately, so at least I would not have missed out on that. These are basically a maze of tunnels that were dug out between the fourth and seventh centuries and were used for burying the dead. It started with lots of small ones, with parallel tombs belonging to single families, but as they grew organically, many then joined together. Whether by accident or design, I'm not sure.
The first side of the road consisted of the one huge set of tunnels and, like Mdina, it easy to get lost and I'm sure I found myself going down the
Mdina Street
The maze of streets and passage ways. same tunnels without really knowing it. I eventually got back to the exit. The other side of the road consisted of a much larger number of much smaller catacombs, most with just one or two tunnels. They did start to get a bit repetitive after a while.
Most of the bodies and any possessions put alongside them had long since gone. The catacombs had been looted over the years and had also been used for storage and then during World War II as air-raid shelters. There were some with bodies, but that had been covered with concrete lids to protect them.
There were signs everywhere saying no flash photography. I hope I wasn't breaking the rules by using the light on my phone to read the information boards as I could barely make them out given that the lights were very dim to prevent chemical reactions damaging the stone. That's pretty rebellious by my standards by the way! The signs also had icons and numbers for audio commentary, but I hadn't seen any mention of that when I got my ticket.
The boards indicated whether each catacomb was Christian, Jewish or Pagan. Generally these were all separate,
Skull and Crossbones
I'm not sure what this is doing on the outside of a church. although it was interesting to see some that were both Pagan and Christian. Clearly, those two religions used to get along well together.
Some of the catacombs were extremely cramped (the signs gave a limit on how many people could go into each one at any one time) and a lot of ducking down was required to avoid banging my head. They were a bit cooler than outside (only a bit though), which was a bonus. The information pavilions that were scattered round the site, however, were a different matter. They were so hot, I could barely stand to be in them long enough to read the information and it was actually a relief to get back outside.
By wife stayed in the airconditioned giftshop with free wifi.
Afterwards we found a bus stop with some of the fifty-something routes on it and waited for a bus. After quite a long wait, three turned up all together, a 51, a 52 and a 53. Decisions? Oh the pressure.
We got on the 52, but turned out to be a massive mistake. The engine kept cutting out and we were going nowhere. In the end most of
Catacomb
Looking through a row of coffins. us got off and then the engine promptly started and the bus drove off. We were annoyed, but actually thinking about it, we were probably better off not being on that bus, as we wouldn't want to be breaking down in the middle of the countryside.
There were a lot us now waiting at the bus-stop, so we had a sneaky idea and walked up to an earlier stop where we would be more likely to get a seat. A 56 came along soon after. No problems and it was also a lot cooler, so there had clearly been something wrong with that other bus. The only downside is that this was even less of an express route than the 52. It was winding around through all manner of places before it eventually got to Valletta.
We headed back to the restaurant with the "two for one" cocktails (see
Doing Tourism in Reverse) in the evening, but slightly earlier than last time so as to avoid the music from the amphitheatre. Ironically, there was nothing going on there this evening, but not to worry as eating early meant that I had a chance to pop back down to those rocky beaches
Catacomb Sign
Pagans and Christians happy together. I'll need to crouch down in this one (and take off my high-heals). again to try and get some blue-hour photos, this time with the floodlights on. The beaches were still busy even at that time of the night, not least with people jumping off the rocks into the sea below.
Amazingly, there were a couple of cars down there. They were four-by-fours, but even so, that is one hell of a feat to get round there. I wouldn't want to be trying that in my car.
After a couple of comfortable and relatively mild evenings, it had warmed up considerably today, so after the hot walk back to our hotel, I joined my wife in the pool for some night swimming. There was some music coming from the outside restaurant where we had had the barbecue a few evenings ago (see
Considering What Should Be On My Decorated Tombstone) so it was a relaxing way to cool down from the day.
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