Valletta Walking Tour

Matthew, our new local guide.

Walking to...

St. John's Co-Cathedral, the Knights' conventual church. Impressive from the outside...

but incredible and over the top in the interior.

The beheading of St John the Baptist.

The Prime Minister of Malta, Robert Abela.

The family that travels together, Norm and his daughter Laurie and son in law Albert.

The view from the fortification walls of the Grand Harbour.

Arabic style balconies.

The Grand Master's Palace...

and the armoury museum it contains.

The halls are spacious and elegant.

The incredible Gobelin tapestry room.

A burial sarcophagus in the National Museum of Archeology.

On the walk back to the Osborne Hotel.

Saturday, October 24th.

Today was a very full day learning of the complex history of Malta. We set out on foot to explore Valletta, Europe's smallest capital, built by the Knights of St. John as a fortress city following their victory in the Great Siege of 1565. IT is built on a outcrop overlooking two deep well protected harbours. This is a very popular tourist destination and today 3 cruise ships were expected so we began our tour at St. John's Co-Cathedral, the Knights' conventual church, which hides an incredible gilded Baroque interior and inlaid marble tombs behind a deceptively plain facade. The interior is overwhelming in gold, murals, statues and a floor covered in inlaid marble tombs. Its museum holds Caravaggio's largest known painting, The Beheading of St. John the Baptist, completed during the artist’s turbulent stay on the island. Then we walked to the Upper Barakka Gardens, the terraced gardens laid out along the bastion walls with sweeping views across the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities beyond. As we walked past the President’s House a black SUV pulled up and the president stepped out and we immediately questioned by an interviewer. It was amazing how informal it was and how he wasn’t surrounded by security. Next we went to the Sacra Infermeria, the Knights' 16th-century hospital, for "The Malta Experience," an audiovisual journey through seven millennia of island history, from the temple builders to independence. The movie was very well done and gave a brief overview of the history of Malta. The island sits in a very strategic location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and is the shortest distance between North Africa and Europe. It has been invaded and colonized by every major civilization in the region  except the Ottoman Turks who tried to defeat it by siege, but failed in 1565. It played a very important role in both world wars and was heavily bombarded in WWII. The people never surrendered and eventually the Allies were able to use Malta as an entry point into southern Europe through Italy and bring about the defeat of the 3rd Reich. Then we had 90 minutes of free time to explore and have lunch. Nearby, the Grand Master's Palace served as the Order's seat of government for over two centuries. Here we toured its state rooms, hung with Gobelin tapestries, and the Palace Armoury, its halls lined with knights' swords, breastplates, and ceremonial suits of armour. From here we walk to the National Museum of Archaeology, housed in the Knights' Auberge de Provence, where the "Sleeping Lady" and other Neolithic treasures trace Malta's temple-building culture back some 5,000 years. After a fascinating and long day we returned to the hotel for a short break before our group dinner.

Fly to Valetta, Malta

Goodbye to two new Canadian friends, Joan and Brett.

Leaving Tunis and North Africa...

and the coast of Malta through a dirty window and glare.

Maltese streets on our walk from our hotel to the restaurant for dinner...

This is the Arab influence and looks like places in Saudi Arabia.

Our first restaurant by the sea.

Friday, October 23rd.

This morning I said goodbye to Brett, who has been a great room mate, and a few other people who are not going to Malta, including Joan from Vancouver. Our one hour flight took us from North Africa to the E.U. country of Malta, the Mediterranean's smallest nation. Our one hour flight left Tunis about 11:30 and we arrived at our hotel in the old section of the capital city of Valletta about 1pm and we made it to our hotel by 4:30. We had a short break in our new room before reconvening at 6:30 for a short walk downhill to dinner. We ate at a very nice restaurant called Cockney’s  right on the sea shore. Norm introduced me to his daughter and her husband as ‘my caretaker’ and ‘a maverick’ because I ride a motorcycle. We also met 7 new people from the other Adventures Abroad tour and one woman who is just joining. So we are 16. We were back to the hotel by 9 and fell into bed shortly after.

The new people are:

Jo-Anne and Dawn from Nelson B.C., Canada

Steve and Kathie from the US

Jeff and Kirstin from the US

Edith from the US

Ericka from US

and Laurie and Albert, Norm's daughter and son-in-law also from the US

First impressions: it's obvious we are no longer in North Africa or a Muslim country; it is definitely a European country full of historic architecture, churches and fortified medieval cities; dress is much more liberal with all styles worn and accepted. And so we begin the final chapter of this journey.

El Djem and back to Tunis

The Museum and some of its mosaics...

me for scale...

They didn't have photographs, so... funeral masks.

The colosseum of El Djem.

The intact labyrinth below that housed the gladiators, animals and prisoners.

Chuck and I enjoyed exploring.

We stopped for a fresh pomegranate drink at this cafe sporting a Canadian flag.

Thursday, October 22nd.

Today was our last day of touring in Tunisia. We drove for about an hour to reach El Djem, a modern city built around more Roman ruins. We visited the Museum (that was its name) which was set up like a Roman villa with a courtyard with rooms leading off of it. There we saw dozens of excellent mosaics, some were huge as they covered the floor in large rich people’s homes. When you walked out the back door of the museum you walk into the residential part of the ancient city where you can see the layout of the town and the foundations of remnants of the walls of houses, some with their mosaic floors still in place. Then we drove to the massive Roman Amphitheatre of El Djem, rising from flat agricultural plains like a sandstone mountain, a monument to imperial ambition and provincial wealth. With capacity for 30,000 spectators, this colosseum rivals Rome's own, yet its superior preservation makes it perhaps more impressive than its famous model. Unlike the one in Rome, here floor of the colosseum still exists and we could descend steps into the level below where gladiators, Christians, wild animals and criminals were kept until they were released into the forum to met their fate in front of bloodthirsty crowds. Built during the brief reign of emperors Gordian I and II (who ruled mere weeks before Roman legions crushed their African rebellion), the amphitheatre demonstrates how quickly provincial wealth translated into monumental architecture. The structure was completed in 6 years of the 3rd century. Here, gladiatorial combats and wild beast hunts entertained crowds drawn from across Roman Africa. Climbing to the amphitheatre's upper tiers, we could survey the surrounded flat landscapes where Roman agricultural estates once supplied grain to feed the empire. We arrived back at the Belvedere Hotel, where we had stayed for the first three days of this trip. Some of us met in the lobby where Russ bought us a drink to use up his Tunisian dinars. They we took a short bus ride and a walk through part of the Medina to reach a beautiful little hotel (that was probably a private residence previously) where we had our last goodbye dinner on the rooftop. We were saying goodbye to Doug, Tom, Russ, Bob, and Joanne. Six of us are continuing to Malta and 7 people are joining us from a parallel tour of Tunisia and 3 more will join us in Malta, including Norm’s daughter and her husband. Back to the hotel for the night. Our flight to Malta is early tomorrow afternoon.

Djerba to Sfax

The Museum of Patrimoine...

an olive press...

One of many depictions of Tunisian life with mannequins and traditional dress.

A traditional clay pottery factory...

and a demonstration of the technique...

and some of the wares.

Walking through the markets of the old Medina of Sfax.

Part of the wall of the Medina...

And the mosque by the exit of the Medina.

Wednesday, October 21st.

Sadly, we were leaving our fabulous hotel and the Mediterranean to journey back to the mainland as we return to the north coast. Today was short on sight seeing and long on driving. First we visited the Museum of Patrimoine which had numerous rooms of staged mannequins illustrating various parts of traditional Tunisian life, including wedding ceremonies, cultural clothing, music instruments, and household implements to demonstrate how island isolation has preserved customs lost elsewhere. The intricate arts of weaving, calligraphy, and metalwork demonstrate how Djerba's artisans adapted Mediterranean, African, and Middle Eastern influences. We visited Guellala village where we had a short tour of one of North Africa's oldest pottery traditions. Here, families have worked clay for over a thousand years, their techniques passed down through generations of master craftsmen. The kilns, some medieval in origin, still fire vessels whose forms replicate ancient Phoenician and Roman prototypes. After having a nice lunch at  a local restaurant we departed the island of Djerba in the early afternoon for Sfax, the second most important city in Tunisia. It was a long four hour drive. When we got through the city traffic we got off the bus and had a short walking tour of the area. This working city processes olives, almonds, and phosphates while maintaining one of North Africa's finest preserved medinas. This one is not touristy in any way and is a fish, meat and vegetable market. We walked through filthy old narrow winding paths inhaling the stale smells of the fish and meat. We emerged out the other side and walked to our new hotel, where George and Isham were waiting with our bus, luggage and rooms keys. This is a tired old hotel and a big comedown from yesterday. Brett and I hung out in the room for an hour before going down for the buffet dinner. After eating with Tom and Chuck we retired to the room where he read while I typed and got caught up.