Saint John's Co-Cathedral is a fabulous building, full of high baroque features!
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See more photos in my Saint John's Co-Cathedral album.
19 March 2025
Malta 2025 Mdina
The walled city of Mdina is a 40 minute bus* ride from Valletta, and less than 10 minutes walking from one end to the other - perfect!
Mdina was the capital of Malta until 1530, when Birgu became the capital. Valletta has been the capital since 1571.
We arrived about noon, wandered a bit, had lunch, wandered some more, then came home. It sounds tame, doesn't it? But! Everywhere you looked, there were amazing buildings, cute winding streets, and... celebratory cannons booming away!
Today is a public holiday in Malta, the Feast of Saint Joseph!**
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| Mdina Gate |
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| Mdina Gate, leaving |
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See more photos in the Mdina album.
*A word to the wise; bus riding is a young man's sport! While we started from the bus terminus, practically guaranteeing a seat, the return was a hot mess! We waited at the nearest stop (for what seemed ages), then decided it was worth it to move to a different stop (not really very far away). We queried the driver, who said that the stop we needed was across the street 🙄, where (naturally) there was a sizeable crowd. Anxiety ensued. I turned on data and downloaded Bolt (12€ to Valletta), but just then, our bus arrived! We had agreed to tap our (unlimited rides) card, check for seats, and get back off if there were none. Hey, whaddya know? There were two! Together! Not great seats, but seats!
** As we were leaving Valletta, we noticed that they were setting up for a parade (right past our apartment!); we saw the confetti when we came back...
PS - the neighboring town of Rabat is pronounced RA-bat. We had rabbit for lunch 😋☺️
Malta 2025 History and Gardens
We're staying inside the walls of Valletta, where everything is pretty close - we walked over to The Malta Experience to watch a 45-minute movie, covering the last 7,000 years of Maltese history! I had known that Malta was perfectly situated to be a huge power of the Mediterranean Sea, but this movie brought home to me just how many waves of settlers, colonists, and conquerors have made a life in Malta - it was a jolt to get all that in under an hour! We followed the movie with a short tour of the hospital, with its 500+ foot long ward - very advanced for medieval times.
We walked a bit around the headland, looking for an easy way down to the sea - no joy, but then we saw our bus! A quick hop on, and we had a ride to the Upper Barrakka elevator - which we took up! 🙂
To the gardens
We passed some time at a café until the 4pm reenactment - they fired one of the cannons...
After that, we caught the bus back to the apartment for a little rest before dinner at Legligin.
Dinner! Wow! It was fantastic! It was a tasting menu of Maltese specialties, along with paired wines (that was... A *lot*!).
16 March 2025
Malta 2025 Grand Master's Palace
The Grand Master's Palace in Valletta has 450 years of history as a center of power and the symbol of a nation.
These two mail shirts are among the oldest pieces in the collection, likely dating from the late fifteenth century. Made of riveted, tightly knit steel links, it provided excellent protection against slashes and could be worn on its own or underneath plate armour.
Our tour was full of historical information! It brought back memories of Ivanhoe and The Maltese Falcon 🙂
There's an extensive armory...
The Savoyard helmet is a style of closed helmet of north Italian manufacture dating to the early decades of the seventeenth century. They offered excellent protection to the face and completed the armour of the cuirassiers, or the heavy cavalry of the time. Some of the examples even have extra reinforcing plates for added protection against bullets. The characteristic feature of these helmets is the anthropomorphic visor, deliberately fashioned to imitate a human face, more often verging into the grotesque, with highly pronounced brows and narrow eyes. These helmets are also referred to as Totenkopf (death's head), an allusion to the eerie skull-like quality of the face.
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| Savoyard helmet |
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| Ottoman war trophies - 1565 |
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| Grand Commander Jean Jacques de Verdelain's armour 1580 |
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| Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt's parade armour |
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| Italian cuirassier's armour 1630 |
as well as various rooms used for diplomatic purposes..
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| The Grand Master's Sala |
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| The Grand Master's Sala |
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| The Ambassadors' Room |
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| The Grand Council Hall |
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| The Grand Council Hall |
Then there was Neptune's Courtyard...
I captured plaques, some of which I'm including here, but some are just in the photo album - enjoy!
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Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette
Jean de Valette was born in 1498 in Quercy, France. He joined the Order of St John in the Langue of Provence in 1518. He fought against the Turks in the siege of Rhodes and followed Grand Master L'Isle-Adam out of Rhodes in 1523, after the Order's honourable defeat to Suleiman the Magnificent.
He was appointed galley captain, and in 1541 was captured and made a galley slave for a year by the Barbary corsair Dragut. He was appointed military governor of Tripoli in 1546 and subsequently captain general of the Order's galleys in 1554.
Upon the death of Grand Master La Sengle in 1557, the Knights chose him as their 49th grand master. A siege on Malta was being planned since Suleiman desired the Order to be annihilated and Malta used as a base to attack Europe.
On 18 May 1565 the Turkish navy was sighted off Malta. In the following three months Jean de Valette achieved the impossible by leading the Order and the Maltese to victory against all imaginable odds.
As a result of the Order's victory de Valette gained support from all over Europe. He was also personally awarded with gifts such as the sword and poniard by Philip II of Spain, as a token of his admiration. De Valette died on 21 August 1568.
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The Order of St John
The Order of St John was founded in Jerusalem by Blessed Gerard after the First Crusade (1096-99), to take care of pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. It was confirmed by Pope Paschal II in 1113.
Master Raymond du Puy (1120-60) introduced an infirmary and an armed escort for pilgrims.
A series of strongholds were also built by the Knights, who distinguished themselves by a red surcoat emblazoned with a white cross.
They descended from Europe's noble families from Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, Castile & Portugal, England & Bavaria / Poland / Russia and Germany. In 1291 they had to leave the Holy Land and establish themselves in Cyprus until 1309, when they shifted to Rhodes until their expulsion in 1523.
After seven homeless years, in 1530 the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V gifted Malta and Tripoli to the Order with the annual perpetual symbolic fief of a falcon.
The Order's stay in Malta was tested in 1565 during the Great Siege, but it emerged victorious and ruled Malta for another 233 years until it was expelled by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
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The Great Siege and the building of Valletta
The dreaded moment came on 18 May 1565 with the sighting of over 200 Turkish ships off Malta. A force estimated to be around 50,000 landed and started preparations.
De Valette achieved in three months what was and still is considered the impossible. with just 700 knights, 8,500 Maltese and European mercenaries. The Turkish position on Mount Xiberras dealt a devastating blow to Fort St Elmo, which however still resisted for a month. Subsequently, the Ottoman effort focused on Birgu and Isla but to no avail, thanks to two relief forces arriving from Sicily, and mostly de Valette's military wisdom and leadership.
The Turkish leaders, having lost two thirds of their forces, with winter fast approaching, and faced with such tenacity, decided to leave the island and save what forces and equipment remained. The feast of the Nativity of Our Lady on 8 September 1565 was never sweeter to the Order and to the Maltese.
De Valette, the Order, Malta and the Maltese gained acknowledgment and support from Catholic and Protestant Europe. Aid in all forms was showered over Malta, especially by Pope Pius V (1566-72). De Valette commissioned the construction of a new city on Mount Xiberras, as planned by Francesco Laparelli, laying the first stone in March 1566. The new city was named after him - Humilissima Civitas Vallettae, becoming Malta's new capital.
Jean de Valette died on 21 August 1568, before the completion of the city.
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