Blogs from Rabat, Malta, Malta, Europe

I’ve always been a bit fascinated by catacombs and caves. Issy doesn’t quite seem to share my interest, driven largely, as I think I might have written previously, by fear of thousands of tons of rock suddenly collapsing in on top of her. So I set off on my own by bus for Saint Paul’s catacombs at Rabat, in the centre of Malta. The bus system is excellent, and the fares are cheap, so I’m prepared to ignore the saturated seat that I’m sitting in and try not to think too hard about what particular liquid might have made it that way. The Saint Paul’s catacombs are apparently the largest such system in Malta. I read that there are more than thirty separate catacombs here in all, twenty of which are open to the public. They ... read more

Up really early to get a seat on the bus...which we did achieve. Nothing like standing on the bus for over an hour! 8.30am to 'Il Rabat' outside of Mdina (imdina) which was originally the Capital of Malta before Valletta up to the Medival period. Fortified 300 residents & Rabat was a suburb of Mdina which now has 3,000 residents. 70mins on our Tillinja transport card to Rabat. Super view of Malta, Valletta out towards the coast. Mdina appears to have had a moat type senario although we find that a bit odd giving the climate with not much aqua. Still it definitely would have been difficult to traverse without the water anyway. Not many people to start with but that soon changed. Very tall buildings made for narrow streets & quiet. The walls absorbed most ... read more

A cool day & early set off. We decided to go all the way out to Rabat. An hour journey first to Ta Qali (te Arli) an old air force base with airplane hangers overtaken by Artisans with offerings of hand blown glass, filigree jewellery, lace, ceramics, olive wood, ironware (knights daggers etc), very basic setup but the produce is very remarkable. We watched the glass being hand blown. Very quick & skillful & there was plenty for sale. To see it being made certainly made you appreciate the price. A few hours were spent admiring the skills as we went from hanger to hanger. Brian somehow happened to notice an Aston Martin 1958 classic collectable (worth 900,000nzd) amongst a group of classic rally cars sponsored by Mdina Glass. The Mdina & Valletta Glass manufacturers are ... read more