This morning we were met by a different local guide, a gentleman (none of us can recall his name) who turned out to be a wealth of knowledge about Malta and its history! Today is meant to be a walking tour of the many sights in the city of Valletta.

We walked a few blocks to the edge of Valletta to overlook the water and the fortifications that had protected this city/country for hundreds of years. After learning more about the history of Malta we made our way back into the city to tour the small archeological museum which turned out to be pretty fascinating and I wish we had had more time to explore it. The most fascinating new information we received was that there is evidence on Malta of civilizations that dated back to 3600BC, a thousand years before the Egyptians. Holy smokes! Tomorrow we will be visiting the ruins of these early civilizations.

After the too short walk through of the museum we went to tour the Manoel theater, built in 1731 by the, then, Grand Master of St.John, as a source of entertainment for his knights and the local townspeople. It still exits today and is in amazing.

From there we proceeded to an OMG visit to the St. John’s Co-Cathedral, probably the most visited attraction in Valletta as there are timed entrances and when we were there it was very crowded. But, oh what a church!  It was built from 1572-1577, again, by the order of the current Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. I thought the church we had seen in Sicily was the most elaborate I had ever seen. I was wrong as this church is simply amazing. I cannot post most of the pictures I took while there; I suggest you go to the church website to get a fuller appreciation of the grandeur of the facility. The interior of the church is considered to be one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe. I believe it!

The entire ornate marble floor consists of 400 tombs of knights of the order. It is a work of art in its own right.

Besides the main church there are nine chapels dedicated to the knights of various countries who are members of the Knights of Malta; each chapel seems more elegant than the last.

Another reason why people are interested in visiting this church is because there are several original paintings by Caravaggio including the famous “Beheading of St. John the Baptist 1608” located there. A second Caravaggio painting “Saint Jerome Writing” is also in the church. They are both impressive works of art.

An aside: the name “co-cathedral” was new to me. It is so called because it shares the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Malta together with the much older Cathedral of St. Paul in Mdina.

Our tour company, Secret Italia, had made reservations for an included lunch at a local outdoor cafe and our guide left us there to order whatever we wanted from the menu and to have the rest of the afternoon free to explore the city further.

After lunch we decided that we wanted to take a harbor cruise to gain a different perspective of the city. Sue’s knee was acting up and she begged off so the three of us grabbed a cab to head over to another part of the city to catch the 2 PM tour. Malta had a neat system for catching a cab. You went to a central kiosk where you bought a prepaid fare (based on a city zone) and simply walked over to a line of waiting cabs. No hassle, no arguing over fares; it was a welcome change to cab travel! The 1.5 hr tour was delightful and we got to see more mega-yachts, and other fortifications that protected the city through the centuries.

Dinner was on our own and after the big lunch we had we did what we often do when in a foreign country-visit the local McDonalds for a burger and fries (and to see if there were any special menu items that cater to tastes of the local clientele). The only difference we saw here was you could get a beer with your burger!

Tomorrow we will be visiting several of the ancient temples found on the island.

Steps for the day: 8,765. Not bad. Good enough to justify an after dinner gelato again!