Malta

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  Malta, Malta
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Malta was another beautiful island and is definitely on my list of places to come back to! Imagine cream-colored limestone buildings and fortresses, standing in sharp contrast to the blue of the Mediterranean, and you've got a good image to begin with. We arrived late in the day on Wednesday and were able to stay until Thursday evening.
Old warehouse buildings along the pier have been modernized and converted to shops and restaurants. Up the hill, the town is laid out in a grid with the gates to the town opening onto the main street. Buses stand ready to take you to the medieval town of Mdina and into the countryside,but we had only a few hours so we stayed in the older section of the city. Many of the streets run right to the edge of the hill, offering spectacular views of the sea, and then turn into steps that offer a shortcut down the hill.
Just a few blocks up the main street was St. John's Co-Cathedral-the church built by the Knights of Malta, when they came here from Jerusalem. The outside of the church is very plain-and is built of the limestone from the island. Inside, however, is another story, as the nobles throughout Europe contributed furnishings, paintings, monuments, and marble tombstones to show their support (and buy a little piece of heaven, it seems) for the Knights of Malta. Eight leagues, representing nations and alliances in Europe, were part of the Knights of Malta (hence, the design of the Maltese Cross with its eight points), and each League sent the best they could offer in terms of art work and décor. The church has a huge collection of golden vestments, given by kings and other nobles, as well as one of the largest collections of Flemish tapestries in existence. The tombs in the floor of the church are covered by slabs that are made up of marble, bronze, and gold inlay. The designs are intricate and filled with flowers, angels, and skeletons-very impressive work!
Malta is very close to Italy and seems to have lots of Italian tourists-and lots of good Italian food! We stopped at a café near the church for lunch and enjoyed pizza and wonderful Italian coffee.

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Altar	Sail-In to Malta	Malta	Malta 2
Malta 3	Old Walls of the City	Typical Balconies	St. John's Co-Cathedral
St. John's	Marble Inlay	A Side Altar

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