Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Malta (Northern Region) – St. Paul’s Bay – Bathing Pools

    These stone constructions are bathing pools which are around 1.5 to 2 metres tall. They’re also an archaeological mystery, as no-one knows how old they are. The sign near to them states that they might date to the Roman period, others suggest that they were owned by wealthy families in a later period of history. They don’t give a time estimate for this latter option, but I assume that they mean in the sixteenth to eighteenth century time period as it’s also mentioned that locals believe they’re been there for “time immemorial”.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Mosta Rotunda

    The imposing, but still beautiful, frontage of Mosta Rotunda where work started in 1833 and was finished after just 28 years…. Great civil engineers they had there. Anyway, they built this building around the existing church, and then demolished the church when they had finished it, so that must have been a giant construction site for three decades.

    Wikipedia tells me that this was the third largest unsupported dome in the world when it was constructed…. The frontage was also modelled on the Pantheon in Rome, a noble endeavour for a town in Malta to want to recreate.

    The domed ceiling, although photos can’t really do this justice.

    The altar in what felt a spacious and elegant environment.

    Visitors can visit the sacristy at the rear of the church, this is one of the connecting corridors and there are tombs on one side.

    One of the elegant tombstones on the floor of the church. I say (well, type) church although it was elevated to the status of a minor basilica in July 2018.

    I feel very slightly cheated by this, the church proudly signs internally their unexploded bomb. This was an amazing piece of good fortune, not that the bomb fell through the roof in an bombing raid which in itself is bad news, but that it didn’t explode. Anyway, I thought that this was the bomb. But it isn’t, the actual bomb was chucked in the sea by the Royal Engineers who didn’t want it to explode. However, the story is still marvellous because there were 300 people inside the Rotunda when the bomb fell through the roof, so it could have been one of the worst tragedies of the war if it had gone off.

    The pulpit and view across the interior of the Rotunda. The church was quite busy with visitors, but everything was organised and well signed. I got a joint ticket with the war shelter for €3, which was perfectly reasonable value.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Freddie Micallef Statue

    Statues of politicians are quite useful in a country that I don’t know, as they give me an opportunity to find out more about them. Freddie Micallef was a Government Minister for a few years in the 1970s and a representative in Parliament for a much longer period, from 1966 until 1996 (serving in the country’s second to seventh legislatures).

    I’m not sure that he had any standout policies, certainly the country’s Labour party didn’t mention any when commenting on his death, but they said “he was a man of whom one could never speak badly and was always on everyone’s good side. He also never held back from mixing with anyone, no matter their background or history” which is rather nice.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Honeycomb

    I thought that it’d be easy to find out more about this sculpture, located near to the Rotunda in Mosta. But I’ve failed to find anything useful, although I think it’s related to when they opened the government offices nearby. I’m entirely guessing, but the local stone often takes on a soft of honeycomb effect when it’s weathered, so perhaps the sculpture is a representation of that. Although it probably isn’t.

  • Flights – Malta to London Gatwick South (British Airways) (Second Time)

    This is the second time I’ve done this flight this month, around a three hour flight from Malta to Gatwick South. Here’s the aircraft, ready and waiting. Some of the highlights that were visible outside during the flight included seeing Malta from the air and also Mount Etna.

    The flight seemed quite light initially, but there was a sudden burst of passengers who filled up most of the front cabin. I’m not sure whether they all came from the lounge at the same time or whether there was a delay at passport control, but it was busier than the flight out the previous Sunday.

    The aircraft hadn’t been very well cleaned though, the cleaners hadn’t taken extraneous items out of seat pockets and there was some litter on the floor. Malta is served by airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet and others, and if British Airways wants to be seen as a better option it does need to sort out this constant cleanliness issue.

    I’ve reused this image from the last flight, since it’s the same menu.

    For some variety I went for the main course of Parmesan, rocket, penne pasta and lemon peppered chicken. The pasta was well seasoned and the mustard seeds added texture and flavour, with the chicken being tender and the peppered lemon coating was surprisingly quite strong. All very pleasant, with the chocolate and cherry torte being rich and luxurious… The Coastal Cheddar was excellent, whilst the Somerset Brie seemed unexceptional, although I prefer harder cheeses.

    The crew were helpful and efficient throughout, not particularly pro-active in offering additional items, but it was easy enough to ask for anything else. The service was though always professional and there was a relaxed feel to proceedings.

    The flight landed just a few minutes later than expected due to heavy headwinds, and the pilot made a few updates during the flight giving information about what could be seen out of the window.

    So another efficient and well managed flight….

     

  • Malta – From Overhead

    I don’t normally get a window seat on aircraft, but since on my return from Malta I had, these are some photos of the islands.

    Valletta is the strip of land jutting out at the rear.

    Valletta is at the top right, showing the urban sprawl in front of it.

    Buġibba on the right hand side of the bay, my hotel was on the edge of bay itself, at the mid-left of the photo.

    Towards the north of the main island, much of this is a nature reserve.

    This is the ferry terminal on the main island where I crossed over to Gozo, with the island of Comino at the rear.

    The island of Comino on the right, and Gozo on the left.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Ta’ Bistra Catacombs

    It’s not the grandest entrance to a museum that I’ve ever seen, but that’s because they’ve taken over a former farmhouse. The museum has the second largest set of catacombs in Malta, the largest being those at St. Paul’s. There was a friendly welcome from the staff member at the entrance and I also get the impression that this isn’t the most visited site that Heritage Malta operate.

    The section of the catacombs is the other side of the road to the farmhouse and it was thought that the road building had destroyed a chunk of the site. However, all was well, the engineers either hadn’t bothered to dig down very far or they carefully avoided the catacombs (likely the former) and they had just put the road over the top in the 1930s.

    The first part of the site is where visitors can enter the catacombs themselves, something better for shorter people than taller people. This section is located underneath the former farmhouse and the catacombs were repurposed as animal pens.

    These catacombs felt much drier than the ones at St. Paul’s, which all seemed to be quite damp.

    This is how much of the site is presented now, but it would have once likely have been on the edge of a valley side.

    The triclinium, where relatives of the dead would have a final meal.

    This is where they think that the Romans were cutting stone to use in building projects, but just didn’t get any further at this particular point.

    This apparently is where the fortunate body was given their own drinks stand, in the hole behind the two headrests.

    One of the few blocking stones which was still in place when they completed the archaeological dig. Interestingly when they completed an archaeological dig relatively recently, they found entire sections which had been missed at what they thought were comprehensive excavations in 1933.

    Although this site isn’t as extensive as St. Paul’s, it’s better explained with numerous informational panels. There’s also a short introduction video, but otherwise very little in the way of exhibits. The extra challenge has been in trying to explain the damage done to the site when it was re-used, particularly the farmers who turned sections into animal pens. At least though the road didn’t destroy much history, so there’s plenty to see at the site.

  • Mount Etna

    I wouldn’t have noticed this, but the pilot pointed out it on the flight from Malta to London Gatwick. It’s Mount Etna and there’s some smoke visible as well.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Valley

    Just a photo of the valley which is at the entrance to the town of Mosta. As a scale, Mosta is the third largest town in Malta with a population of around 20,000 people, less than twice the population size of the metropolis that is North Walsham in Norfolk.

  • Malta – Northern Region – Mosta – Southern Fried Chicken

    I was inspired to have fried chicken having seen the Kentish Fried Chicken outlet, and nearby is an outlet from this British chain. Southern Fried Chicken is not particularly Maltese, well – other than being in Malta, and it is seems to be in a growing number of countries throughout the world.

    The service was helpful and friendly, so everything seemed welcoming. There seemed to be a lot of options to choose from as well, but it was all clearly priced.

    The interior was clean and had quite a modern and contemporary feel to it.

    As chicken burgers go, this was excellent. The chicken had lots of flavour in the coating, the meat was tender and this combined to have an enjoyable taste. The bun was fresh, mayo and ketchup were supplied free of charge and everything was hot.

    OK, so it might not be a beautiful platter of Maltese locally sourced food, but it was reasonably priced at just over £5 and tasted of a decent quality. It’s also well reviewed, unlike the nearby KFC, which I didn’t bother visiting.