Our Last Taste of The Malta Experience

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It's sadly our last full day in Malta today, as we're flying back at 12.30pm tomorrow, so that will not leave any time for us to do anything other than get to the airport. My wife wanted to relax by the pool today. I wanted to go to Marsaxlokk, which is a small fishing village that I had read about.

I caught a bus and was there in about half an hour, most of which was spent with the bus fighting its way through narrow streets again. I feel sorry for the bus drivers here, as the cars, both those parked and the ones driving don’t make it any easier. And that reminds me, one thing I don't like about the Maltese is their manners. I'm going to stop standing to one side to wait for them or holding doors as there's never any acknowledgement whatsoever.

The harbour at Marsaxlokk is famous for all the multicoloured, stripped fishing boats. We had seen a few of them, on their own, scattered in some of the other harbours that we had visited, but here there were loads of them, all across the bay. There were quite a few ugly modern boats still though. Whilst the boats were very photogenic, the backdrop was not, with lots of cranes and other signs of heavy industry. I guess I would have to accept that jobs and the economy are more important than my photographs.

There was a small market along the side of the harbour, so I had a quick look around that, given that we'd missed out on one earlier (see Maybe Celebrating The Our Lady of Sorrows Feast or Maybe Not).

After walking and taking pictures for a while, I got the bus back to Valletta again, although first I needed to track down a bus stop, as there didn't seem to be one near where we actually got off the bus earlier. The bus tickets are valid for two hours to allow time for you to change buses if you need to. I managed to get back on the bus back within the two hours - I'm not sure whether return journeys are within the rules or not, but the driver didn't seem to mind (or care)!?

Despite having covered a lot about the history of Malta at the War Museum (see Doing Tourism in Reverse), I thought I would go and try the 'Malta Experience'. This is basically a cinema show about the history and culture of Malta. Music and sound effects are played out on the main speakers, but then there are headphones on every seat so that everyone can select one of 20 languages for the commentary.

It was about 5200BC when the first settlers came over from Sicily and then what followed was probably the only period of peace in Malta's history. It has been the battle-ground for almost every major power in European history. Whilst its key strategic location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea is probably an asset, that has made it a constant target. The Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, the Normans, the Knights of St. John, the Ottomans, the French and, finally, the pesky, Empire-building British.

Actually, I think I may be wrong saying that about the British, as the tone of the language relating to the British was completely different to the others. They (we) were viewed as liberators from the French and then protectors. The French, or more specifically, Napoleon, had looted much Malta's property to fund his other military campaigns and, after an uprising, was effectively putting the country through a second great siege until the British fleet arrived, under the command of Lord Nelson. Malta's not the first country we've been to that had hostility towards the occupation by the French, as that was very much the case in Vietnam, which we had visited a few years ago (see For Once It’s Not The British Empire They Despise). Of course, there are also many other countries with similar hostilities towards the British and the other European colonial powers.

There was a mention of Stonehenge, but only in respect to how recent it is in comparison to similar constructions in Malta, as we found out in Gozo (see Reminders of Stonehenge, Thailand, Santorini, Sorrento, Berlin, Marrakech, Las Vegas, Death Valley and Saigon).

Christianity was introduced by St. Paul who was shipwrecked in 60AD and was looked after by the Maltese. He was bitten by a deadly snake and was completely unaffected so the Maltese viewed him as a god.

I've covered the Knights of St. John and the Great Siege previously (see A Quartet of Civilised Travel and Doing Tourism in Reverse), so I'll not repeat that here. Following the Great Siege, to ensure that it never happened again, the knights built Valletta as their heavily fortified new capital. The city is designed in a grid, which we have found makes it almost impossible to get lost.

The film actually did a better job than the War Museum in bringing to life the scale of the bombing in World War 2. It was horrific. Again, it was Malta's strategic location that made it a target, as planes and submarines based there were playing havoc with the supply lines for the axis powers' campaigns in North Africa.

Despite the overwhelming odds and the scale of the damage inflicted during WWII and the Great siege, the Maltese will keep fighting. Consequently, the whole country was awarded the George Cross by King George VI, which is the highest British civilian award for gallantry. Frankly, I'd better forget what I perceive to be bad manners.

When talking about present day Malta, they mentioned eyes, which are carved in the front of all those multicoloured striped boats. I hadn't noticed to photograph those. Of well, back to Marsaxlokk.

The Malta Experience also included a tour of the Sacra Infermeria next door, which is a huge old hospital. It consists of the two longest hospital wards in the world, one for the rich, who paid for their healthcare and one for the poor who get it for free. The rich got their own beds (600 in total), each with a little cubbyhole as a toilet. The poor get one larger bed between four. Apparently it was for men only. I'm not 100%!s(MISSING)ure why, but it was something to do with women not being allowed in the presence of a knight. And doctors were considered to be knights.

These huge rooms are mainly used for weddings and the like now.

The garden of the hospital is now a theatre, actually the largest theatre in Malta. This is where the agreement that officially ended the Cold War was actually signed by George Bush Senior and Mikhail Gorbachev (see Doing Tourism in Reverse).

The hospital excursion was interesting, but I'm not really sure why it was part of the Malta Experience. Overall it was all definitely worth doing, although I thought that €16 is quite expensive. After all that, I've probably learned more about Maltese history than I know about British history. That's not dissimilar to how it was with Texan history last year (see Texan History Day).

According to the BBC weather reports, the Mediterranean temperatures are getting back to normal now. Phew, but even the normal temperatures are too hot for us. Also on the BBC, they mentioned the super-moon last night and, coincidentally, one of the photographs they showed was of the moon behind the Valletta skyline. Looking at the angle of the photo, I think it was taken from Manoel Island, where we considered walking via the bridge the other day when we were in Silema (see Doing Tourism in Reverse).

We were not going to try and get across there, but we did go to the Upper Barrakka Gardens to see the moon coming up over the Three Cities. I found a web-page that predicted that the moon would come up at 9.06pm, so we relaxed, waited and enjoyed the view. There were a few batches of fireworks going off in the distance to keep entertained and then, at 9.06 exactly, we could see the orange moon coming up over the Fort St. Angelo in the middle of the Three Cities. It was not a disappointment, for us and all the other people who I think were also waiting for it.

It was late when we then went for something to eat, in a very lively street of restaurants, with tables covering most of the street from all the various bars and restaurants, and either live or recorded music playing along its full length.

All in all, we've really loved Malta. It's definitely been an 'experience' as it were.

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Photos

Marsaxlokk Harbour
The multicoloured boats with the nice side of the Marsaxlokk skyline in the background.

Boat Close-up
See the eye on the side.

Marsaxlokk Market
A few stalls to have a browse around.

Maltese Civil Ensign
This flag was everywhere in Marsaxolokk. It's the flag of the merchant fleet.

Malta Experience
The theatre ready for the show to start.

Another Theatre
The largest in Malta and where the Cold War Agreement was signed.

Sacra Infermeria
The poor-persons hospital wing.

Siege Bell War Memorial
Another quick photograph during my walk back from the Malta Experience.

Valletta Streets
Some of the Maltese decorations in the streets of Valletta.

Upper Barrakka Gardens
The archways in the Upper Barrakka Gardens whilst we are waiting for the moon to rise.

Three Cities View
The dusk view from the Upper Barrakka Gardens.

Super-Moon
The blood-red moon rising above Fort St. Angelo.

Restaurant Street
Out for our meal once the moon rise was over.

Triton Fountain
A last view from the city walls.