Considering What Should Be On My Decorated Tombstone

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I did my usual and got up early for the sunrise. I had checked in advance and there doesn’t seem to be an iconic sunrise view in Valleta, so I walked along the east side of the city looking over towards the three cities on the other side of the bay. I couldn't find a good view, which wasn't helped as some of the locations I thought might work were not accessible.

I couldn't get one view I had seen of the Siege Bell War Memorial from the Lower Barrakka Gardens as the gardens themselves were closed. I relaxed by the bell to wait for the sunrise, but that was also a disappointment as it was almost totally obscured by the hazy sky. The east side of Valletta seems to be mainly made up of huge fortifications, which would probably look quite photogenic when they're illuminated by the golden early morning light. Sadly, the haze put pay to that.

The only highlight was an absolutely massive cruise-ship arriving, but that really wasn't the kind of photograph I'd got up early for.

After breakfast, we both braced ourselves for the heat and headed back out for a walk to better acquaint ourselves with Valetta. Rather than heading straight into the city we walked along the edge of the city alongside the water. Valletta is one of many towns and cities on various land outcrops. To the north west is Silema and to the south east are the "three cities" of Senglea, Vittoriosa and Kalkar, across the bay that I saw that huge cruise-ship coming in through earlier. All look equally as well fortified as Valletta.

We walked up along the Silema side until we reached the St. Elmo Fort on the very tip of the outcrop. We then headed back down to the Siege Bell War Memorial that I had been to earlier. The Lower Barrakka Gardens were open now, but, of course, they were now covered in people. The gardens for very pleasant, however, had excellent views and the shade actually gave us time to cool down.

We then carried on down to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, which were similarly pleasant and had similarly excellent views. There's also an old military battery here, as well as the Barrakka Lift, which goes all the way down to the harbourside some distance below. We didn't see any need to go down there, not least because it was where that huge cruise-ship was parked-up.

One place we did want to go was the St. John's Co-Cathedral. There was a queue, but it was shaded, so we decided to wait and it took about 30 minutes, which could have been worse. One thing we did spot, but only once it was too late, was an way in for "skip the queue online tickets". We had our phones so we could have ordered some tickets and then gone straight in. In fact there were quite a few people on their phones doing just that.

Alongside the queue is a tribute to Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist who was investigating corruption and links to organised crime, and was assassinated by a car-bomb in 2017. I guess it is a brave person who investigates corruption and organised crime somewhere that is just 60km south of Sicily.

The cathedral is impressive, but plain from on the outside. The inside is, however, spectacular. Baroque-style art, statues, sculptures, frescoes and decorative artwork over every surface. Along both sides of the central nave are a number of little chapels, each seemingly dedicated to a particular faction of the Knights of St. John who feature heavily in the history of Malta. As we entered the cathedral everyone was given an audio guide - I say audio guide, it was basically a smartphone and so was also a visual guide to go with the audio. It gave an excessive amount of information about each area of the cathedral, covering every single little detail (it could do with a shorter option for if people would prefer).

The introduction guide was very interesting though, as it covered the history of Malta and of the cathedral itself. The Knights of St. John were from a number of powerful European families and, after losing the holy land during the crusades, they were awarded Malta in 1530 by King Charles V of Spain, for the rent of one falcon (bird) per year. They fought-off the Turkish Ottomans who tried to take the island in 1565 during the Great Siege and then they built the cathedral in 1573 to 1577.

The whole floor is covered in literally hundreds of "tombstones", each highly decorated according to the person that they are dedicated to. Despite all the detail in the audio tour, I left unsure if said persons are actually buried under their "tombstones" or not though. I'd guess not.

I wonder what I'd have on my highly decorated "tombstone" if the need came up? A sunrise, a Canon camera, a pint of Stella and a curry probably. Answers on a postcard please.

There was a barbecue in the hotel in the evening, outside by the pool, so we thought we would give that a go. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening as it had cooled down considerably since we had got back earlier and we could watch the sun setting behind Sliema across the water. Maybe the heatwave is over!?

The barbecue itself was excellent as well.

Afterwards I headed out again just to try and get some better photographs than I was able to get this morning.

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Photos

Valletta
The city walls viewed in the early morning.

Cruise-ship
Dominating the harbour as it arrived at sunrise.

British Phonebox
Other symbols of Malta's British past.

Lower Barrakka Gardens
Once they were actually open.

Siege Bell
The bell in the Siege Bell War Memorial.

Cathedral Clock
The clock shows the time and date.

Daphne Caruana Galizia
An investigative journalist who was assassinated in 2017 whilst investigating corruption.

Beheading of St. John
A particularly poignant artwork in the cathedral.

St. John's Co-Cathedral
The spectacular inside of the cathedral.

Tombstones
A fraction of the decorative tombstones on the cathedral floor.

Hotel Barbecue
Tuna and chicken.

Sunset
During the hotel barbecue.

Siege Bell War Memorial
Viewed from the Lower Barrakka Gardens.

Evening View
Valletta at night.