Winston Churchill, Britain’s former Prime Minister, is still held in high regard in Malta from what I can tell. This sculpture of Churchill is located in Upper Barrakka Gardens and was sculpted by Vincent Apap, a Maltese artist. It was paid for by the people of Malta and Gozo and I think that it looks rather dignified and elegant.
This is a copy of the statue that was once held here, but which is now in the National Museum of Fine Arts. The original was displayed in Rome and Paris before coming to Malta in 1907. It’s by Antonio Sciortino and shows three poor street children.
A lot of restaurants and cafes in Valletta often have quite old-fashioned frontages, but Cheeky Monkey looks and feels modern. It’s well presented and their web-site is up-to-date, something which numerous restaurants in Malta don’t seem to concern themselves about.
I visited on a rainy late afternoon in February, so it wasn’t a surprise that it wasn’t that busy. There was a friendly welcome from a staff member, not just a “hello”, but something that actually seemed authentic and personable. So, my first impressions were rather positive.
Having craft beer is obviously a huge bonus for my enjoyment of a location, and although I’ve had this beer a few times, I like having it as an option. It’s the Fungus Rock dry stout from Lord Chambray Brewery on Gozo, one of the few local breweries. It doesn’t have the depth of flavour and afternotes that I’d ideally like, but it’s entirely acceptable. It transpired later on that I visited during happy hour, but the pub didn’t tell me that, which might have made my visit longer……
The fish and chips, which was neatly presented and everything was at the appropriate temperature. Far too often restaurants put peas on with fish and they’re dry and tasteless, but these were excellent and despite being green, they had a depth of taste. The breading of the fish was even throughout and had a decent flavour, although the portion size was only adequate. The fish itself was again fine, although slightly uninteresting. The chips were though excellent again, crispy on the exterior and flurry on the interior, with the tartare sauce adding some extra flavour.
It was all very acceptable and the prices weren’t unreasonable given the city centre location of Valletta. The service was above average throughout, always being attentive and polite. A staff member was going around with a tablet asking customers for feedback, something which I’m not sure works or not. I very much like the concept of it for picking up any issues, but they don’t seem to be doing anything directly with the data that they get. So if a customer isn’t entirely happy, I’m not sure if the pub is contacting them either immediately or after the event. If it isn’t (and they didn’t contact me), I’m not sure it’s a great idea, but the concept of immediate feedback is an interesting one which is very rarely done in this manner.
But, everything was clean and organised, and I’d certainly go again, particularly as the staff were so friendly.
The wording on this statue apparently means “help me become a Priest” and there has been an art project based on this. I’m sure that these used to be more common, although this is the only one that I’ve seen in a long time.
Photos of Valletta taken from Sliema, which is a strip of land just to the north of the country’s capital. Sliema is where the Ottomans attacked the Knights of St. John from, and is where Dragut was killed. It was a fishing village for some centuries, although there was a military garrison located here until the British left in 1979.
These photos would have looked rather better if it hadn’t been raining for most of the morning…..
There aren’t a large number of bars in the centre of Valletta, it’s mostly cafes and restaurants rather than what might be called pubs. So, it’s not difficult for this location to just be called “The Pub” and still maintain its own identity.
The pub is small inside, with just four tables and it’d be a push to get more than around twenty people in. Fortunately, there was one table free when I went in and although there were none of those craft beers that I like, there was Guinness, and that’s just fine.
There are numerous photos and references to Oliver Reed, as he died in this pub. It’s perhaps not the best claim to fame to have, but the pub does rather play on it and even sells t-shirts relating to the event. For those who want to know Reed’s final alcohol consumption on the night in question, he had drunk 8 pints of lager, 12 double rums and 14 whiskeys.
But the pub does have a lot of atmosphere, it’s welcoming, quirky and very traditional. It picks up negative reviews from not being clean or modern enough, but I quite like the slightly rickety nature of the interior.
This was a popular haunt when British sailors were stationed on Malta, and there are numerous photos of ships as well as the badges on the walls.
The service in the pub was entirely acceptable, it was efficient, sufficiently polite and made the location not feel unwelcoming. The prices are reasonable as well, with a pint of Guinness costing just under £4. Certainly a unique location….
This Italian restaurant isn’t part of the UK chain, but is an independent restaurant located near to the harbour area in Cospicua, near Birgu. It was rather busier than I had expected, although the reviews for the restaurant are excellent, and it transpired that I was fortunate to get a table. I arrived around ten minutes before they were serving lunch, but by the time they had offered the menu and taken the order, the wait wasn’t noticeable.
I didn’t order this tower of beer.
It didn’t seem right to sit in an Italian restaurant eating pasta without having a glass of white wine. Since I don’t understand wine, I just order the house wine which nearly always tastes fine and is just at the price point that I prefer.
This is the homemade tortellini Maltese sausage pasta filled with local sausage, spinach, blue cheese, walnuts and a sun-dried tomato paste. It was as well presented as pasta can be and cheese was served alongside for me to sprinkle on. The pasta was excellent, the blue cheese was evident by taste and the sausage meat had a pleasant flavour to it. The walnuts added texture and the tomato flavour was rich, with the portion size being sufficiently generous.
Service was attentive and polite throughout, with a staff member noticing I had entered and helped me to find a table. I struggled slightly to get the bill at the end of the meal, but that was more because I think they were trying not to rush customers, and I was hardly in a massive rush to get to the next museum. The prices were a little expensive, but that was perhaps inevitable for a fashionable harbourside restaurant.
I can only imagine how busy this restaurant must get during the summer months, and it’s clearly in a wealthy area given the amount of yachts in the nearby harbour.
The Tarxien Temples are four megalithic structures which were constructed between 3600 and 2500BC, although were then repurposed between 2400 and 1500BC. The map above shows just how complex the structures are in their size and layout.
The site was discovered in 1914 after a farmer ploughing his field reported finding large stones. The farmer would have known for a long time about these irritating stones interrupting his farming arrangements, but in 1913 the Tarxien Hypogeum had been discovered nearby and he thought that this site might have a similar archaeological interest. He was right.
If I’m being honest, this really doesn’t help. All over the site there are more modern reconstructions of what the temple would have looked like. In this instance it’s apparent what is old and what is new, but in other parts of the site it’s confusing. In places, there were deliberate attempts to make the newer additions look original, which has all taken away from the experience. The 1950s restoration was also botched as they decided to use concrete to top off the stones, which has now damaged the original limestone.
There’s a large canopy over the site to avoid any deterioration of the exposed stone.
Cats have plonked themselves over parts of the site, knowing that they’re unlikely to be disturbed since they’re in an area that the public can’t get to.
This chamber was discovered in 1921 by Thomas Ashby and was secured by the stone lid which is located next to it. I can imagine the excitement that Ashby must have had whilst nervously opening up the lid to see the delights that lay within. And I can also imagine his irritation when he discovered that the chamber was empty.
Steps coming down into the temple.
Visitors can walk all the way around the site on an elevated walkway, and then also through the site.
This is the floor of the temple, made from thick stone and so not just the compacted earth floor that might otherwise have been expected.
More views over the site.
This cubbyhole was opened up and the archaeologists found flint knives and burnt animal bones inside.
Some of the stones have been taken inside into the small museum area located by the ticket office, which has ensured that they don’t get too worn by the weather and local elements. If you use your imagination, and primarily read the description by the side, you can see boats and rafts on the stone which is on the right hand side. This is of note as it might be one of the earliest representations of a boat which is in existence anywhere.
I have a rather limited knowledge of ancient temples, with “rather limited” perhaps being better defined as “no knowledge at all”. It was an interesting site and I liked how visitors can walk around the site on the walkways, but I didn’t have much of a clue what I was looking at. The leaflet given to visitors has four items to look for, although three of these aren’t even at the site (they’re at the National Museum in Valletta, where I did actually see them) and there’s a limited sense of history for me looking at a copy that someone had made thirty years ago.
Just two random photos of Birgu streets which I thought looked and felt quite atmospheric. The Knights of St. John first settled in Birgu when they were kicked out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire, and steps were designed so that Knights could run up and down them in armour.
Located in Vittoriosa, this is one of the best examples of a former Inquisitor’s Palace building still in existence. It was unfortunately mauled about a bit internally by the British when we had taken control of Malta from the early part of the nineteenth century, but there is plenty of history remaining.
The Knights of St. John built this palace to be used as the civil law courts in the 1530s, shortly after they had moved from Rhodes. They built it on top of an earlier building, of which some of the above foundations are still visible. When the new capital of Valletta was constructed the courts moved there, so the inquisitor, or someone who checks up on how the Catholic faith is being obeyed, moved in four years later.
Part of a former ceiling, looked down on from above.
The grand staircase added in 1733 by Inquisitor Francesco Stoppani.
An external well which was constructed in the mid-seventeenth century to be used as the depository of the communal cell’s toilet.
A rather graphic depiction of Jesus, the top one is made from wood and dates to the seventeenth century, whilst the bottom one is made from papier-mache and dates to the nineteenth century.
This is a twentieth century replica piece of clothing which I don’t entirely understand. Similar items were worn by individuals as an act of penance, so I’m guessing it’s for that purpose…
The torture chamber, which the museum makes clear was rarely used and it was only ever in operation to try and extract confessions rather than as a punishment. The inquisitors in Malta weren’t seen as brutal as those in other countries and the aim was to encourage people to follow good traditional Catholic values rather than to punish them excessively.
The Grand Inquisitor’s Chamber, where decisions would have been made and sentences announced.
The inquisitors believed in secrecy and these are the steps which went up to the Grand Inquisitor’s Chamber. The window on the left of the steps looks into the torture chamber and would be closed to prevent anyone from seeing who was walking up the stairs.
The entrance to one of the many cells, which is irritatingly low down.
Graffiti in the cells scratched into the limestone by inmates over the centuries.
Hygiene in the cells was considered important and there was drainage and the facilities to deposit waste in every cell.
This is an extensive palace and there was plenty of see, including the former kitchens, the chapel (which the British turned into a corridor), the bedroom of the Inquisitor, the bedroom of the head warder and numerous other prison cells. It all really became a little bit of a maze, with the directions not always entirely clear. There was also a permanent display about Christmas and I didn’t quite understand the relevance of that to the whole museum.
The inquisitors were not the harsh men which they have more recently been made out to be, they were simply the enforcers of the church which was immensely powerful at the time. The inquisitors also used the role as career enhancing in many cases, there were 62 inquisitors in total of whom 27 became cardinals and two became Pope. The two men who were elevated to the position of Pope were Fabio Chigi from 1655 until 1667 and Antonio Pignatelli from 1691 until 1700, with the former being guilty of some appalling nepotism, whilst the latter put an end to the practice.
I’m sure though that more could be done with the museum, as some of the items marked as being original clearly weren’t and there was frequently no explanation as to what a particular room was for. They have far more rooms than they have exhibitions and some exhibits were rather padded out and not particularly informative.
However, it was a fascinating building which an immense history, one which has fortunately managed to avoid being damaged in wars or changed too much internally. It’s just a shame that they didn’t really explain the architecture of more of the rooms, I was more engaged with the history of the building than looking at displays about Christmas.
