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Sunday, 18 June 2023

Valletta

I've been a bit delayed with my blogging recently (having a civil union ceremony and then moving country twice all in the same month did make me quite busy!), but I'm finally caught up enough that I'm actually writing about the country where I'm currently located, which is Malta!

Like when I was living in Chile, I plan to do some posts about specific places I've travelled to, as well as posts about life in general here. I've actually already been to a fair few places around the archipelago in my first few weeks, so I've got a bit to catch up on with this blog, but I've decided to start with Valletta. After all, it's the capital city and the first place I properly travelled to here, so it's a good place to start!

I was lucky enough to have a free day before starting my internship during my first week here, so I decided to use it to head down to Valletta. 

Valletta, the southernmost capital city in Europe, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks to its amazing 16th-century architecture.

When getting off the bus at the bus station, the first landmark you come to is the Tritons' Fountain.




And then you pass through the city gate, and into Valletta itself.

The views of the fortifications are really spectacular!






The first building you come to within the city itself is Parliament House, which is much more modern than most of the rest of the buildings in Valletta, but which has the same golden colour.




That's something I like about Valletta actually - all of the golden buildings look beautiful in the sunshine, and they remind me quite a bit of the architecture in Bath. My family home is about 45 minutes away from Bath, so we take a lot of day trips there, and it always feels a bit like going on holiday somewhere like France or Italy, thanks to its grand architecture and Roman ruins. So it makes sense that I would be reminded of Bath while travelling somewhere else in Europe!

Valletta has an array of beautiful old buildings, and here are some memorable ones:

Church of Our Lady of Victory




Church of Saint Catherine of Italy




Auberge de Castille




St John's Co-Cathedral (You can go inside to see two paintings by Caravaggio. I didn't go in, because the tickets are expensive and the queue was massive, but perhaps I'll do it at some point in the next two months.)




Courts of Justice




National Library of Malta




The Grandmaster's Palace (This was built by the Knights of St John and is the largest palace in the city.)




The Royal Opera House (This building was destroyed in WWII, and its ruins now function as an open air theatre.)




On that first day in Valletta, I had noticed that the city seemed really packed with tourists, especially in the area around the city gate, and I thought that was odd for a weekday in May. But soon I spotted the reason - down below in the harbour was the most massive cruise ship I've ever seen! To be honest, I think it was bigger than any building I've ever seen, and it was hard to even comprehend its size. Needless to say, it certainly looked out of place among the beautiful old architecture, and there's no way you'd get me to go on it!





Two of the places I most liked seeing in Valletta were the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Lower Barrakka Gardens. The Upper Barrakka Gardens are located close to the city gate, and have great views of the Three Cities on the other side of the harbour, and the Saluting Battery below. 







This week, I returned to Valletta, partly because I wanted to buy a tea towel and a postcard, but also because I wanted to visit the Lower Barrakka Gardens, which I missed on my first visit. This is a beautiful little garden which definitely made me feel like I was in Greece!








Something else I loved seeing in Valletta was this cat café, which isn't your typical café with cats - it's actually a "café" for stray cats. It's a nice idea given how many stray cats there are on the island.





All in all, Valletta is a really beautiful city with an array of amazing views.
















I'm very glad that it's so close on the bus from where I live and work, so I can pop there whenever I want. I'll certainly be back a few times in the weeks to come!

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