Valletta from the Three Cities
Valletta from the Three Cities
A 200 year old map, typical Lucas's, never use up to date documentation
After being kicked out of Rhodes by the Turks the Knights of St John set up their HQ in Malta around three inlets which they protected by defensive walls. They are on the left of the map shown opposite. When the Turks arrived they put some big cannons on a hill opposite and made a bit of a nuisance of themselves during "The Great Siege" in 1565. Having realised their mistake when the Turks left the Knights of St John moved their HQ across to the hill which is called Valletta and is where we are staying. It is a very nice compact city with some fine 17th Century buildings.
Today we caught a ferry across the Grand Harbour to the original city (an area in three parts called "The Three Cities") and once there to save our old legs we hired a golf cart with a sat nav and a commentary.
An old lady at the helm
The idea is great, you follow the directions and at strategic points the system tells you all about the sights as you pass. When we went into the office to collect the cart we could hear one of the staff giving a customer directions over the phone, "they must be idiots" we thought, fancy getting lost.
We soon discovered the navigation system was so flaky everyone gets lost and "mission control" keep calling you to give new directions. The company claim it was due to temporary road works but some of these works looked like they have been there for some while. Still, it was good fun and it allowed us cover quite a large area without any effort.
The towns around the three bays are much more photogenic than Valletta and they seem less touristy but everywhere the streets are very narrow so a golf buggy is the ideal mode of transport. Car hire in Malta is very cheap and we nearly booked a car for the whole duration, it is a good job we didn't as parking would have been a nightmare.
Made with
Easy Website Builder