Chris' son, Simon came to stay and, as the forecast wasn't great, we booked the boats into Msida marina just outside Valletta and took the opportunity to do some sight seeing around Malta.
The Grand Master's Palace in Valletta which now houses an amazing collection of armoury.
There are 5,721 pieces and it is the oldest collection in the world housed in its original building.
The outside of the Grand Master's Palace
Detail of the painting on the wooden panels inside.
A wonderful example of the typical balconies around the buildings.
Grand Harbour in Valletta
Coffee stop and time to sample Maltese pies for which they are famous and we were entertained by the barrel organ. Note the red telephone box and postbox!
The hospital of the Knights of St John - from where St John's Ambulance service originated. The knights were also hospitaliers.
The upstairs ward which had 247 beds for well to do men - no women were allowed to go to the hospital. The arches down the length of the ward were small alcoves which housed a toilet behind a curtain- one per bed.
Many of the stairways we saw around the city had very shallow steps. This was so that the knights could use them when they were wearing armour - your can't bend your knees very far! Also the suits of armour were terrifically heavy - just the helmet could weigh 10kgs.
The downstairs ward, again only for men, where the poorer people were treated. Here they also had a toilet alcove per bed but there were three people to each bed! There are metal rings along wall because at one time the police used this space as stables for their horses.
View across to Valletta
Open top bus tour around the south of the island.
Malta is actually smaller than the Isle of Wight although the population here is 400,000 compared to 120,000 on the Isle of Wight.
Marsaxlokk
We stopped off for lunch at Marsaxlokk and also to check out the anchorage for future reference. A lovely traditional fishing port with many brightly painted boats. Apparently the colour painted around the top indicates where the boat is from. Local boats had yellow stripes.
View across the bay.
Detail showing the lucky Egyptian eye which all of the boats here had on their bows.
Desi "stealing" a fish from the statue on the waterfront.
Back to Valletta for the most amazing ice creams. Each one is handmade adding one petal at a time - you can have as many different flavours in the one cone as you like. This was my favourite - blood orange and ginger.
Limestone Heritage
As with all tourist attractions on Malta, this was a very well presented museum showing the history of limestone on the island.
How the blocks were originally cut.
A lovely stone to carve
An example of the old wells that they cut in the stone.
Simon makes friends with a donkey who was VERY keen to have his photo taken!
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