Historical Note
This was first written while we were still in transit; we’re back in China now, so this is a back posting.
If you are reading this, then we landed safely in Shanghai and I didn’t get arrested for beating the asshats sitting in front of us bloody for being such prats and bouncing their bloody chairs all flight long. Some people can be so damned inconsiderate to their fellow passengers – it’s not just your chair, it’s also someone’s tray table and LCD screen. Whipping your chair back without warning is a dickhead thing to do. Period. On with the show..
Day 12 – Malta
On day 12 (day 11 of the cruise) we docked at the island nation of Malta, a little less than 100 kms south of Sicily, Italy – one of our previous ports of call. Our ship docked in the impressive harbour of Valletta, which is also the capital of Malta and seat of government. The island nation is a member of the Commonwealth and also is a former British colony, alike Australia and Canada.
Although now being a republic, Malta has changed hands repeatedly over the past few millennia, from Romans to Greeks to Persians to Moors and so on. The two main languages in Malta are Maltese and English – so we were at home with the locals for a change of pace.
The most striking visual elements when entering Valletta are the massive fortifications; the harbour is incredibly well re-enforced in a not so subtle nod to the city’s heritage – it was built by Knights!
All three pictures above: the harbour of Valletta
In an odd continuation of our concurrent journey, it turns out that our cruise had been roughly following the progression of the Knights of St John (the Hospitaliers) westwards – the Knights held the Greek island of Rhodes for over two hundred years, and as it turns out, they also were given Malta for about two hundred and sixty years.
Our ship docked at Valletta at around midday and was due to only be in port for a paltry six hours (!) so the day before (a sea day) we decided to book ourselves onto a shore excursion with Pat and Kristi. They had booked onto the Mdina and Valletta tour, which was split into two visits ashore: a few hours on foot guided through the streets of Valletta followed by a bus ride to the nearby walled town of Mdina.
Toni @ Valletta | The Prime Minister’s Office | Streets of Valletta
We got up reasonably early and ate breakfast in Windjammer. At some point, Toni and I split up (Toni went back to the stateroom and I stayed in the Café to write blog entries) and later I went up on deck to watch us come into dock. When I returned to the stateroom I ran into Toni who was trying to find me. We then went back to Windjammer and ate a pretty average selection of food whilst chatting with P & C.
Eventually we made our way down to the Pacifica Theatre and were assigned to our tour buses. We left the ship and jumped on board a large-ish coach which powered away from the dock.
Our tour guide was.. dead boring. Honestly, her spoken English was fine, great actually, but she kept reiterating her content sometimes up to three different ways in one monologue. It was frustrating to say the least. The information she did possess was wrapped inside multiple layers of repetition (not to mention stating the obvious multiple times), including such gems as “we are in the harbour district, this is where the harbour is” and “where your ship docked today”.. no kidding!
Above: Inside the co-Cathedral
Although the day held promise, it remained quite overcast and a bit drizzly, so the contrast for photos was a bit tricky. Our first stop was a garden park overlooking the impressive harbour. We managed some shots before heading away again further into the city center.
Our next stop was right outside the Prime Minister’s office, in one of those grand old buildings flanked with two old cannons. The ornate façade has been well preserved, and the building looked well maintained. Now that I think of it, the whole place felt pretty well-off. Everything was clean (no dog poo) and proper, perhaps partly due to the ex-British colony mindset, and in fact – in Malta they drive on the left!
Above: Inside the co-Cathedral
Nestled into a series of grid like paved roads are a series of high end shops. The city center does a miraculous job of blending old culturally significant buildings with the demands of a modern city. Perhaps this is no surprise given that the whole place is a UNESCO World Heritage site (there are those UN guys again). We threaded the (quite honestly) wide and well maintained streets until we reached out next destination: St John’s co-Cathedral.
I honestly which I could tell you a bit about this opulent church of worship. Unfortunately, our guide was at her repetitive best, so I tended to ignore her and instead focused on shooting the interior of the church. From what my mind gleaned from the few bytes I picked up here and there, the church was not originally as well endowed. It wasn’t until the 18th and 19th centuries that the place started to be as well refined as it is today.
Palace Hallway | Ornate artwork
Built as one of the main temples for the Knights of St John, after they migrated away from the too-small walled city of Mdina, the church has seen a lot of history. It came under the most danger during World War II when German and Italian bombs threatened the island, but in cruel irony the only buildings destroyed nearby happened to be the church for the German and Italian speaking people.
We spent some time in the main room, and then retreated into the museum/exhibition where people who were listening were given an education on the works of Italian painter Caravaggio, who had several works here in the building. Photography here was, as was becoming more increasing, forbidden; but I snuck a couple of frames for you anyway.
Honestly, I don’t know what’s up people’s rears about taking photos without flash. It’s not like the end result will be commercial quality photos; the lighting conditions aren’t conducive to it, especially without a tripod. It’s just another set of killjoys, holding a tight grasp on works of art that should be viewed by all humanity. *sigh*
We left the co-cathedral a little later and walked to our last stop in Valletta, the main palace. Actually, I didn’t know this was on the agenda so it was quite a nice surprise o find ourselves ascending 39 of those stone circular medieval stairs to find ourselves in a marble hallway looking at many coats of armour. Perhaps the only more surprising sight was a Christmas tree all lit up at one end of the mighty hallway, in staunch defiance of the rest of the historic decor.
PC & Toni & Friend | Marble hallway | Kristi & Toni & Friend
There were a number of rooms off the main area, we only were permitted into some of these rooms, including the tapestry room (no photography allowed). The rooms were frankly nowhere near as interesting as the casts of armour, or the side commentary between PC and Toni and I. We took several photos amongst the decorative swords, paintings and trimmings before being led back downstairs.
Moving on, we left the palace and were given a massive fifteen minutes of free time although where we were due to meet required at least ten minutes to reach, so I have no idea how useful that was. When we met up, we rejoined the coach for our trip to Mdina.
The ride to Mdina was pretty uneventful. Our guide droned on with the usual repetition (to my chagrin) which we largely ignored. One thing I’ll say about the Maltese countryside: it’s neat. Not neat in a “way cool” sort of way, but neat as in neat and orderly. Even the industrial section we drove through was neat and orderly – everything in it’s place. The countryside is kind of green, with light undulating hills and small houses dotting the countryside in clusters.
The island imports mostly everything, including water. The island has four desalination stations and if you thought our tour guide was going to miss an opportunity to reiterate and repeat the outcome of water desalination you were wrong! By the time we reached Mdina, I was ready to cut from the tour completely. The only upside to staying with the tour group was that the guide would purchase our admission into anything we had scheduled.
So we tagged along, not very closely, and shot a lot of photos. The city is quite impressive, tall ramparts and battlements house a small town inside, with only a few residents. Cashing in on the medieval heritage, there were several interesting options, none of which were on our tour’s agenda. The daft guide didn’t even give people a few minutes to browse the tourist information office, which provided informative and free maps of the city. We, of course, did enter the office and found it most helpful 
Malta’s countryside
The entrance we used was flanked by two twin stone lions, and the bridge was quite frequently used by small cars who showed scant interest in slowing down for pedestrians. Inside was a real treat, cobblestone roads and tall stone walls. We we walked around the interior by our guide being introduced to the various houses and buildings.
Mdina Entrance | Streets of Mdina | Stone Lion Sentinel
The most interesting sight was the cathedral, which we entered all together. The cathedral (sorry, they are starting to blur into one big church now) was quite sizable given the small size of the town, and contained a number of tombs under the floor. While our guide was engrossed in storytelling, I took advantage of the space and shot various angles without people in the background. By now I was noticing that others in our group were taking the same initiative.
Mdina’s Church | Outside
When we left the cathedral, we split from the main group and ventured into the museum opposite (free admission with our church ticket). Again with the no photos! However, I didn’t care, and took photos of half the place. That’ll teach ‘em! The museum was interesting, but could have been better. A lot of the items had been donated by wealthy citizens or clergy,
After we exited from the museum, we did some shopping at the Mdina glass shop, before returning to the coach for our trip back to Valletta. Instead of giving us the option of getting off the bus at the top of the steep hill above the dock, and giving us a chance to utilize the one hour left in port, our tour guide had us exit the bus from the harbour, right next to the ship. No tip for you. We briefly met up with Steve and Melissa and Ray and Lily once we were dockside.
The queue for the Brilliance around 6pm
Realizing the walk up and back would tax the majority of our time, we elected to stay at the port for shopping and drinks. We noted that the queue to get back on the ship was extremely long, so we kicked back with Ryan and Carli (who we met up with port side). By 6 pm, the queue was still very long so we kept a soft vigil until the queue looked destined to clear completely.
Jumping onto the queue towards the end, we rejoined the ship and went up and dumped our shopping spoils in the stateroom. So ended our last port of call for 2010. We walked back up on deck and waited for the Brilliance to leave her berth. The exit was not quite as interesting as the arrival, but the weather had cleared, and we were officially on our way back to Barcelona.
Leaving Malta