Malta Things to Do

Pronounced Marshashlock. The harbour is full of tiny traditional brightly painted fishing boats and the quay is lined with a daily market selling traditional Maltese edibles, lace and other bits and pieces. On Sunday the fish market takes over and the fish loving Maltese go down to buy their sunday lunch live. Seafood restaurants are great - tell Michael at Buckett I sent you - but you need to book most of them at weekends. Very cheap indeed at lunchtime, considerably more expensive in the evenings.
Wednesday mornings 9.30 to 12 you can visit the turtle hospital run by the Fisheries Commission in the old St Lucia Fort.

4 more images

Nowdays the Maltese equivalent to Disneyland, an amusement park for children, Popeye's village is located in Anchor Bay at the west end of Malta island (just before the Cirkewwa port to Gozo). The village was originally built as a film set for the production of the 1980 film Popeye, starring Robin Williams. Today it is open to the public as an open-air museum and family entertainment complex.
It's set in a beautiful narrow bay and it's colorful and amusing to see!
You can follow a dirt road just opposite the village and have a panoramic view (and make nice photos as well)

3 more images

Equally impressive is the church's interior. In fact it is a single area dominated by its impressive dome sizeing 37m in diameter. By the time we arrived there was a holy mess and it was very impressive to see a lot of people attending it

4 more images

Mosta lies in the geographical centre of Malta (NW of Valetta), and in older times it was preferred as it was not located by the coast to suffer pirate invasions.
Its huge attraction and "a must see" is its enormous church inspired by Pantheon in Rome. Its dome ranks among the 3rd largest unsupported in Europe, with a diameter of 37 meters . The church was built over a previous church in 1833 and finished in 1871. Why it took so long? Because work was done by local volunteers (a triumph of faith some may say). It is devoted to The Assumption (feaast held on August 15). The church is also known as the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta
During WWII a bomb dropped into the church interior from the ceiling luckily not exploding!
The exterior of the church dominates the modest town. In fact apart from the ionian style columns decorating the entrance, the whole building is in fact a huge cupola. it is most unlikely not to be impressed.

The City Gate (Bieb il-Belt in Maltese) is your entrance to the charm of Valletta.
The present structure, unispiring to the wealth of the old Valletta buidings was built in 1964 during the Independence celebrations and it is the fourth to have stood there. The original dates from mid 16th century.
At the time we visited a countdown clock was there to remind Maltesers how many days are there left before Euro invades their life...

1 more image

The Triton Fountain is the very first thing you see just before entering the City Gate and lies in the centre of the main bus terminus at Valletta in Malta. The statue was designed by the Maltese sculptor Vincent Apap in 1959.
Apart from being busy due to frequent arrivals and departures of buses, there are some small cafe stalls there.

2 more images

Beyond the crypt you can visit the catacombs which though extensive, the part visited is small but more atmospheric than St.Paul’s as skeletons are found inside many tombs. An early Christian chapel (probably the oldest one) is also found there.

4 more images

According to a local tradition, during the persecution of the Roman Emperor Decius at about 250 AD, Agatha a Christian virgin living in Catania, Sicily, Agatha, a young virgin, fled from Sicily, her native land, and took refuge in Malta in order to escape from the sexual harassment of Quintanus, praetor of Catania.
Her stay on the island was rather short, and she spent her days in the crypt at Rabat, in prayers and teaching the Christian Faith. After some time, Agatha returned to her native land but was arrested, imprisonmented and tortured.She was flogged, her breasts were crushed and then cut off, and finally she was rolled naked over hot coals and sharp potshards. She died from her wounds in prison on the 5th of February 251.
The locals dedicated in her honour the same crypt where she used to pray and named after her a nearby Catacombs and later on a Church over the crypt.
The crypt of St. Agatha is hewn in live rock and found in the yard of the church (admission fee paid covering the small museum as well). It is an underground basilica, which from early ages was venerated by the Maltese. At the time of St. Agatha's stay, the crypt was a small natural cave which later on, during the 4th or 5th century, was enlarged and embellished.
When Mgr Lucas Buenos was bishop of Malta (1664-1668), he visited this sacred place, and donated to the crypt an alabaster statue, representing the saint undergoing her martyrdom.
The crypt is adorned by a good number of frescoes (see additional pics). Some of them date back to the 12th century and are in Byzantine style. The others, which are in Greek style, date back to the 15th century, There are 30 images of saints, out of which, 13 represent St. Agatha. The remainder represent bishop saints, virgin and martyr saints.The 15th century frescoes are attributed to the Sicilian painter Salvatore D'Antonio. Other paintings are still visible in the ceiling at the entrance on the right hand.
The frescoes has been luckily restored in recent years.