Sightseeing in Malta

August 27, 2013

I got to spend a couple of hours seeing the sights in Malta.  Michael, on the other hand, had to do an audit of the Branch there and then did an exchange with the missionaries.  Since there are no sisters currently serving on Malta, I couldn't do an exchange.  The senior couple and the Branch President's wife took me for a ride so I could see a couple of the sights.  I feel sorry for my husband when he doesn't get to go with me at times like this, but it's just the way it is.  I take pictures and tell him about it and he is content to be a mission president and do the things mission presidents do.


MALTESE ARCHITECTURE

VALLETTA

Valetta is a city built by the Knights of St. John after the Great Siege of 1565.  It is known as the "city built by gentlemen for gentlemen".  It was built as a fortress to defend Christendom and as a cultural masterpiece.

In its day, Valletta was a fine example of modern city planning.  Designed on a grid system, now common in the United States, the city was carefully planned to accommodate water and sanitation and to allow for the circulation of air.  Most towns and cities evolved over centuries, but Valletta, in contrast, was one of the first European cities to be constructed on an entirely new site.

Valletta is the capitol of Malta and is very much a working city today.  We didn't have time to go inside the city but I am hoping before we leave in three years we will have an opportunity to do so.

Crazy Tree

PRICKLY PEAR

The prickly pear grows widely on the islands of Malta, where it is enjoyed by the Maltese as a typical summer fruit (known as bajtar taxxewk, literally 'spiny figs'), as well as bajtra.  The prickly pear is so commonly found in the Maltese islands that it is often used as a dividing wall between many of Malta's characteristic terraced fields in place of the usual rubble walls.

We saw a man harvesting the fruit in the early evening.  I was told that during the daytime hours, the cactus will literally throw it's spines at you if you try to pick the fruit.  The man I watched had a long stick with something that looked like an empty soup can on the end of it that he used to pick the fruit.

GREAT DOME OR ROTUNDA OF MOSTA

Mosta is a city in Malta.  Mosta boasts the third largest unsupported dome in the world dedicated to the Assumption.  The Feast of the Assuption is held on August 15 and is a public holiday.  The church is also known as the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta.  On 9 April 1942, the church was nearly destroyed during World War II.  An Axis bomb hit the dome of the church but failed to explode.  The detonator was removed and a replica bomb is now displayed as a memorial.  The rotunda took 27 years to complete but the result is a tourist attraction of world standard.