We met for breakfast and then convened at the car park to make our way to Valletta. It was only a half hour drive but that was for a 10 mile journey so that gives you an idea of how busy the roads were.
Our aim was to get to the National War Museum which is housed in the fort at the very end of the peninsula that Valletta sits on. It was baking hot and so we hoped to park close to the doors but it was nose to tail and we ended up doing four laps of the winding streets before giving up, unsuccessful in our endeavours.
We ended up at the other end of town, in the public car park near the bus station. It was around a 20 minute walk through town to get there. Apart from the baking sun, it wasn’t the worst way to spend the, morning wandering through town taking in the sights.
It was a proper Mediterranean town, lots of stickers on lampposts, old men on seats spitting on the floor outside their houses chatting, the stink of red hot drains and mopeds left all over the place randomly.
We stopped at a lovely little pizza restaurant on a thriving square just off Republic Street called Eddie’s café. The chap that served us must have been late 70’s if he wasn’t in his 80’s and was a charming old gentlemen. We had lovely sandwiches and cold drinks in his air conditioned café and spent a while watching the world go by in the square outside.
Fed and watered, we made our way down to the National War Museum. The fort had been a fixture on the peninsula, we learned, since 1552. This was the front line of the battle between the mainly Christian west of Europe and the Muslim Ottoman Empire coming in from Turkey to the east.
There were 500 knights in this fort with 6,000 foot soldiers and they withstood the siege to repel the invaders. This did not end the wars, but the idea that the Ottomans were invincible started to erode from this point.
I wonder what the world would look like right now if those brave Christian soldiers had not stood their ground and the Ottoman Empire had prevailed. A huge sliding doors moment for sure.
This older history was well covered and excellently explained through various displays, videos and lots of artifacts, but the majority of the museum was taken over by the history of World War Two. Of course, this was my main focus and, when we got to this section, my pace slowed significantly!
During the war the island was besieged with incessant bombing from the Axis forces via sea and air. Just less than 400 years later, and not a huge amount had changed sadly. Churchill referred to Malta as an ‘Unsinkable aircraft carrier’ from which allied planes could attack axis ships in the Mediterranean transporting troops and material to the North African campaign.
The stakes were high, if we lost control of Malta, we lose North Africa and, most likely, the rest of the Mediterranean too. By August 1942 the tide had turned, a lot of this success was due to the air superiority and the Spitfires that had arrived on the island. The relief of Malta was completed when a convoy limped into Valetta harbour bruised, but not beaten.
There were some amazing stories, from all sides, and some of the displays of equipment and models of the region were excellent, I was very impressed.
Filled with history, we walked around the harbour walls, taking in the docks and ‘The Valetta Giraffe’, a crane that had been painted to look like the gangly treetop munching animal…..it was a lovely addition to the skyline, I have to say!
We made our way back through the town, checking into shops and cafés on the way back to the car park and had a lovely afternoon in a lovely city. It was full of bustle and busy with a mix of tourists, young professionals finishing work and old fashioned Mediterranean folks that could be anywhere in the age range of 40 to 120, shuffling through the street and seemingly pissed off that they live in a hot and busy city.
We were happy, after a very brief spell in the sweat box, for the air-con to kick in and head back towards the hotel. The views were lovely as we drove home, through lovely villages and sea front roads but we were back at the hotel in what seemed like no time.
We showered, ate five or six meals and said ‘hello’ to our little friend Spencer. The drinks flowed heavily that night and the game of Uno got more and more leery and I got more and more upset as I fell further and further behind! We were keeping a cumulative score night after night and my luck was well and truly shot!
We retired slightly wobbly around the edges but full of smiles.
Itchy Feet and Titchy Feet 