I had a better visit to Malta than the Apostle Paul, I
managed to avoid being shipwrecked or bitten by a snake (or any animal). I did
see the bay where it is alleged to have happened, although a lot has changed
since the 1st century AD. I
left Gatwick on the 6.15am flight on Monday, fortunately I had stayed overnight
to avoid an early start. Check in and security were swift at 4am! The flight
was just under 3 hours and so we landed in Malta around 10am.
I am staying at the Diplomat Hotel in Sliema and having
checked in, I left my bags and went for a walk. The weather is warm around 15
degrees, but I still needed a jumper on.
A brisk walk along the seafront led into the Sliema village area, with
its shops most of them British High street ones like M&S, Next and even a
BHS. I found a nice coffee shop French Affaire
and stopped for a cappuccino. Sliema is
one of the Islands most sought after neighbourhoods with its townhouses and
swish apartment blocks, it is also a main tourist spot. I had a wander around
and looked at the boats in the harbour. There is a ferry that goes from Sliema
to Valetta and takes 5 minutes, so I hopped on board (€2.80 return). It was a
smooth journey – no chance of a shipwreck, well unless he missed the docking
station I suppose and crashed into the wall!
Valletta is the capital city, built on a peninsula that is
1km by 600m by the Knights of St John in the 16th century. It has
been described as ‘one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world.’ There
are a lot of old buildings here and it is quite hilly. The streets are narrow,
which is meant to restrict the wind and keep the city warm. I had a wander around and looked at some of
the churches. They all have two clocks on them one with the real time, the
other with a false one. This was to confuse the devil so he wouldn’t know what
time Mass was. I caught the ferry back to the other side and returned to the
hotel. It was late afternoon so an ideal time for a run and this time I went
the other way, following the sea wall to St Julien and Paceville, an easy 5k.
On Tuesday I worked
in my room in the morning on various church documents. I then decided to go for
a walk. I thought I would see how far it was
to walk to Valetta around the harbours, rather than catch the ferry, I now know
why everyone catches the ferry – its a long walk, about 5 miles, although it didnt
look like that on the map! When I
finally reached the city, I stopped for coffee at Cafe Cordina which has been
there since 1837, which explains why the service was so slow, they are still
living in that era.
As I was here I thought I had better get a bit of culture,
so I visited St John’s Co-Cathedral built between 1573 and 1578 by an architect
called Gerolamo Cassar. The interior was
designed in a 17th century exuberant baroque style. It has a huge
painting of John the Baptist by a bloke called Caravaggio. It has several
chapels contained with the main one. It was ok, a lot of painting and gold decorations – not my style really. It
cost €10 to visit, perhaps that’s where I am going wrong at church, we offer
everything for free, if we charged may be we would get more people.....
I then had a walk around the other city areas, down to Fort
Elmo and along the east side to the waterfront. I watched HMS Scott and a ferry
dock. It was then a long walk uphill to get to the Grand Hotel on the other
side of the Island, apparently the most
‘posh’ hotel on the island, I would describe it as dated, but they did a nice
coffee. I then walked back to ferry point and waited for the boat as the sun
went down. I arrived back at the hotel
and decided to go to the gym for an hours work out on the bike.
On Wednesday I went for a tour of the Island using the hop
on/off buses. It was a windy day which made travelling on the top deck rather
cold! It first stops were around Valetta and the places I had walked around on
Tuesday. It then ventured inland and past the Palace and San Anton Gardens,
which have been around since 1623. I got off at Ta’Qali craft village and had a
look around, but didnt buy anything. I
could have waited for the next bus, but the city of Mdina, the old capital of
Malta, didnt look far away and within walking distance. It was about a mile
cross country and an easy walk. Mdina is a walled city and can trace it roots
back to 1500BC. It has a lot of Baroque and Medieval architecture – whatever
that is. After having a little wander
around I caught the next bus and stayed on it for a while. It did a tour around
the north of the island, past the Roman Baths, various seaside villages
including St Paul’s bay and Bugibba. The bus was virtually empty and so I could
sit at the front, buffeted from the wind, I got off at Paceville and went for a
walk, then stopped for some lunch. As Malta
is close to Italy there is a lot of Italian food here. After lunch I
walked back to the hotel, about a mile and a half.
At the hotel I did some church work before going for a
run. I only intended to do a couple of
miles, but took a wrong turning somewhere and ended up a couple of miles away
from where I intended to be. There are a lot of hills here as well. I ended up
running just over 6 miles to get back to where I started.
On Thursday I went out after breakfast and walked into the
village. I stopped for a coffee at my favourite place the French Affaire and
read the paper. It is very windy today, which is going to make the sea crossing
into Valetta interesting. After, enjoying a coffee (no cake today) I walked
down to the promenade to catch the ferry across to Valetta. It was slightly
rough, but as I was outside on the top it wasn’t too bad and it is only a five
minute journey! I then went for a nice
walk around the city, walking around the outside, and found a few hills to walk
up – including Crucifix hill which is about 400 metres long and there is a
cross at the top. It was a challenge to walk up it, but I made it ok, then it
started to rain and I got wet! The cross at the top was put there by some monks
when they started a monastery. I walked back into the centre and had lunch at
Cafe Cordina and sat inside, the service is no better inside!
I then caught the ferry back to Sliema and wandered back to
the hotel and read my book. I then decided to go for a run, it was very windy
and hard work. I did some hill repeats to mix it up. I did run up one hill and
found myself on the motorway so I ran back down rather quickly. I ended up back
in the old town, so an opportunity for one last coffee before I ran back to the
hotel. I then used the gym and cycled while watching Captain America – he made
running look easy.
According to my Apple watch I have walked/run just under 60
miles in four days as well as covering 75km’s on the bike in the gym....not a
bad work out.