The Grand Harbour
The Grand Harbour
A typical tomb stone, they cover the whole floor
Our first stop today was the Cathedral of St John which is over the top baroque. It is the church of the Knights of St John so is a celebration of victories against the Ottoman Turks. The most interesting aspect of the church were the marble grave stones in the floor, rather better than the worn out slabs in English churches. Most feature death, the one pictured is a good example.
Outside we came across a marching band, it seems the Carnival celebrations are still taking place!
When the church was built it was plain, since then successive knights have called in the decorators.
One cherub has his foot on a skull, the other has his foot on an Ottoman turban!
The monument is to commemorate the siege of Malta but as it is opposite the main courthouse it has been hi-jacked by friends of Daphne
Beside the cathedral and opposite the courthouse are flowers and banners in memory of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a journalist killed by a car bomb in October 2017. Many suspect the killing was ordered by top establishment figures.
Known as the "one-woman WikiLeaks", she uncovered networks of corruption in Malta and abroad, and was know as a harsh critic of the government. Two men who admitted they carried out the assassination have been jailed but those behind the murder have not yet been brought to justice.
We walked up to the ramparts just in time to witness the noon day gun being fired, unusual for us to be in the right place at the right time. Next we explored the underground control rooms where the air defence of the island was managed during WWII. All the air raids came from Sicily so radar was used to spot the planes as they started to cross the sea and squadrons of spitfires were sent up to attack them. I seem to remember that a previous owner of the Porch House (Vincent Twomey with the collection of Rolls Royce's) served as a fighter pilot on Malta before moving to Italy after which he was shot down over Yugoslavia and taken prisoner. The same control rooms were then used by Eisenhower to manage the invasion of Sicily in 1943.
The main map depicting the invasion routes into Sicily
The big island is Sicily and the planes are tracked south towards Malta. The wall boards show available spitfires as well as convoys of ships and downed pilots who needed rescue.
The noon day gun being fired
Finally we visited a museum dedicated to the design and building of fortifications. It was quite interesting, since Roman times the islands of Malta and Gozo have been of such strategic importance that successive occupants have built bigger and more powerful defences culminating in those the British built in WWII.
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