Home of the Knights

Trip Start Aug 23, 1996
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Malta  ,
Saturday, January 12, 2008

As in previous episodes, I have mention that I am the son of a ten pound Pom, and most of the kids I grew up with, their parents were mainly from Greece, Italy or the former republic of Yugoslavia, but every now and then, a voice would pipe out, I'm Maltese. Never knew were it was, but it sounded different, and in the back of my mind, I knew it was a place that I needed to tick off of the list !!! However, once I moved to the UK, it didn't take long for me to realise that it was in the Med, I just needed to find the right Uncle Davros Jewboy price, and I could never seem to find one, that was until Ryanair started, and then it all fell into place.
 
£42.00 later, we were on our way.
 
Once we had landed, I looked around and there were palm trees, it felt like North Africa, the surrounding buildings reminded us more of Tunisia. As we drove towards Valletta, everything changed. All of a sudden it felt like we were in Luxumbourg. We were driving into a giant fort. Rampart upon rampart, I was amazed. We jumped out of the taxi, found the B&B, then hit the streets. Inside the walls, you can't really get lost, everything is set out in a grid pattern, and as it was late, we decided to hit a wine bar. We'd never had Maltese wine before, but fuck it was good, so we ordered another !!!
 
Hitting the Streets
 
We decided to follow the walls. Everywhere you looked there were what looked like forts !!! We were following the harbour, this place seemed well protected. Inside them, the buildings were over 500 years old and associated with the Knight's Templer. In fact, it was pretty hard to get lost, all you had to do was look for a Knight's building or a church, and you found yourself quite easily. Actually, as far as cities go, I don't think I've seen that amount of churches in one place !!!
 
We had lunch but then found out that Malta hasn't realised that it's part of the EU. Generally in most EU countries, everything's open except Mondays, but Valletta was closed by 12:30. Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it !!! One of the premier sites is the Cathedral, and we had fucked up and was unable to see it. Either it was me or it was Malta that was the fuckwit, I couldn't determine which one. Pissed off, we walked a bit more until we came upon the bus station.
 
Now here in Malta, the place is full of old English buses from the 50's and 60's, but because of the EU, they will be soon got rid of, so a must do, is to go for a ride in one, and €0.47, you can go along way.
 
Sliema, St Juliens and St Paul's Bay
 
Around five years ago, we were going to dive in Malta as they have some incredible wreck dives. We were going to stay at one of these three places, and in some ways, I'm glad we didn't. These places were not our style. Holiday resort, taking away from the natural beauty of the island. Yeah, there were some churches, but we were wasting our time being there, so we jumped on a bus and went back.
 
Back in Valletta
 
According the little old lady who owned our B&B, Sliema, St Juliens and St Paul's Bay use to be nice, but money talks, and now the place is a shithole !!! Seafood was on the menu, octopus stew. Fresh from the morning catch. More red washed it down, and just like the last, it was good.
 
The Next Day
 
After breakfast, we ran over to the Cathedral and tried to get in. There was a bouncer on the door, I gave him the, I am a good christian and I NEED to pray, and then we were in !!! The floor was coloured with marble grave stones, murals everywhere, and I was unable to take photos as I was praying !!!
 
Once that was out of my system, we walked back to the bus station. Valletta was finished with us, and it was time to move onto further fields.

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001 The Book, Malta 001 The Book, Malta 002 Muscles, Valletta 002 Muscles, Valletta 003 Wine, Valletta 003 Wine, Valletta 004 David Drinking Wine, Valletta 004 David Drinking Wine, Valletta
005 Lucy Drinking Wine, Valletta 005 Lucy Drinking Wine, Valletta 006 Valletta 006 Valletta 007 Valletta 007 Valletta 008 Valletta 008 Valletta
009 Valletta 009 Valletta 010 Valletta 010 Valletta 011 Valletta 011 Valletta 012 Valletta 012 Valletta
013 Valletta 013 Valletta 014 Valletta 014 Valletta 015 Valletta 015 Valletta 016 Valletta 016 Valletta
017 Valletta 017 Valletta 018 Sign, Valletta 018 Sign, Valletta 019 Harry Potter Car, Valletta 019 Harry Potter Car, Valletta 020 Valletta 020 Valletta
021 Valletta 021 Valletta 022 Valletta 022 Valletta 023 Valletta 023 Valletta 024 Valletta 024 Valletta
025 Bus, Valletta 025 Bus, Valletta 026 Bus, Valletta 026 Bus, Valletta 027 Bus, Valletta 027 Bus, Valletta 028 Bus, Valletta 028 Bus, Valletta
029 Bus, Valletta 029 Bus, Valletta 030 Valletta 030 Valletta 031 Valletta 031 Valletta 032 Tower, Valletta 032 Tower, Valletta
033 Idol, Valletta 033 Idol, Valletta 034 Idol, Valletta 034 Idol, Valletta 035 Sign, Valletta 035 Sign, Valletta 036 Memorial, Valletta 036 Memorial, Valletta
037 Aussie Flag, Valletta 037 Aussie Flag, Valletta 038 Kiwi Flag, Valletta 038 Kiwi Flag, Valletta 039 Three Flags, Valletta 039 Three Flags, Valletta 040 In Memory, Valletta 040 In Memory, Valletta
041 Sign, Valletta 041 Sign, Valletta 042 Church, Valletta 042 Church, Valletta 043 Sign, Valletta 043 Sign, Valletta 044 Inside a Church, Valletta 044 Inside a Church, Valletta
045 Idol, Valletta 045 Idol, Valletta 046 Van Gogh, Valletta 046 Van Gogh, Valletta 047 Idol, Valletta 047 Idol, Valletta 048 Valletta 048 Valletta
049 Sign, Valletta 049 Sign, Valletta 050 Lunch, Valletta 050 Lunch, Valletta 051 Valletta 051 Valletta 052 Lucy in Valletta 052 Lucy in Valletta
053 Valletta 053 Valletta 054 Valletta 054 Valletta 055 Valletta 055 Valletta 056 Policeman, Valletta 056 Policeman, Valletta
057 Idol, Valletta 057 Idol, Valletta 058 Valletta 058 Valletta 059 Valletta 059 Valletta 060 Statue, Valletta 060 Statue, Valletta
061 Valletta 061 Valletta 062 Lion, Valletta 062 Lion, Valletta 063 Maltese Flag, Valletta 063 Maltese Flag, Valletta 064 Cathedral, Valletta 064 Cathedral, Valletta
065 Idol, Valletta 065 Idol, Valletta 066 Church, Valletta 066 Church, Valletta 067 Idol, Valletta 067 Idol, Valletta 068 Church, Valletta 068 Church, Valletta
069 Idol, Valletta 069 Idol, Valletta 070 Valletta 070 Valletta 071 Church, Valletta 071 Church, Valletta 072 Lucy in Valletta 072 Lucy in Valletta
073 Victoria Gate, Valletta 073 Victoria Gate, Valletta 074 Fort, Valletta 074 Fort, Valletta 075 Lucy in Valletta 075 Lucy in Valletta 076 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 076 WW2 Memorial, Valletta
077 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 077 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 078 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 078 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 079 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 079 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 080 Fountain, Valletta 080 Fountain, Valletta
081 Bus Station, Valletta 081 Bus Station, Valletta 082 Statue, Valletta 082 Statue, Valletta 083 Church, Valletta 083 Church, Valletta 084 Valletta 084 Valletta
085 Church, Valletta 085 Church, Valletta 086 Church, Valletta 086 Church, Valletta 087 Painting, Valletta 087 Painting, Valletta 088 Gate, Valletta 088 Gate, Valletta
089 Air Pump, Valletta 089 Air Pump, Valletta 090 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 090 WW2 Memorial, Valletta 091 Lion, Valletta 091 Lion, Valletta 092 Laneway, Valletta 092 Laneway, Valletta
093 David in Valletta 093 David in Valletta 094 Napolean's House, Valletta 094 Napolean's House, Valletta 095 Chicken, Valletta 095 Chicken, Valletta 096 Dinner, Valletta 096 Dinner, Valletta
097 Goats Cheese, Valletta 097 Goats Cheese, Valletta 098 Dinner, Valletta 098 Dinner, Valletta 099 Wine, Valletta 099 Wine, Valletta 100 Octopus, Valletta 100 Octopus, Valletta
101 Wine, Valletta 101 Wine, Valletta 102 Wine, Valletta 102 Wine, Valletta 103 Cathedral, Valletta 103 Cathedral, Valletta 104 Queen Victoria, Valletta 104 Queen Victoria, Valletta
105 JP2, Valletta 105 JP2, Valletta
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