Malta
You can easily spend a full week on Malta without even considering traditional pasttimes such as sunbathing or swimming. Culture and going out will do it... Whereas English is widely used and understood, you will hear little English spoken: Maltese people speak Malti, an Arab dialect.
Mnajdra
File size 70 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. Mnajdra is a set of three neolithic temples dating back to
3600 to 3000 BC and belongs - together with other similar buildings on
Malta - to
the
oldest
stone buildings which survived until today. Malta's temples are amazing,
given the size of some of the stones used as well as the craftmanship needed
for the carving, engravings and even paintings.
')){kind=link}
Dwejra
File size 107 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. The cliffs and bays at Dwejra, located at Gozo's western end,
make up some of the most scenic coastline available in the Maltese archipelago.
')){kind=link}
Citadel, Victoria
File size 65 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. Victoria's Il-Kastell was apart from Mdina the only - though
modestly - fortified city outside the La Valetta/Three Cities fortications.
We peek over the southern wall towards the cathedral, the only animated
part in the otherwise dead inside.
')){kind=link}
Fort St Angelo, Birgu
File size 69 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. Fort St Angelo, the old sea fort taken over by the Knights
of St John and held throughout the Grand Siege of 1565.
')){kind=link}
Grand Harbour
File size 266 kB. Only JPEG.
This is essentially an inset of the pano above, with a detailed view of
Senglea (left) and La Valetta.
Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta
File size 72 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. The pleasant Upper Barrakka Gardens, which are laid out behind
the walls to the left, offer a prime viewing spot onto the Grand Harbour
area and the Three Cities.
')){kind=link}
St John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta
File size 130 kB. Choose JPEG or Java
Viewer. What looks pretty sober from the outside turns into an overwhelming
baroque spectacle of forms and colors inside. Clearly, the main church
of the Knights of St John represents the different attitudes towards power
and
respresentation
which had developed in the formerly austere order throughout the 17th and
18th century and brought its eventual downfall.
')){kind=link}