This plaque is located in Upper Barrakka Gardens and I can imagine that this is well deserved, the bomb disposal teams must have been enormously busy during the Second World War. More bombs were dropped on the islands than were dropped on London and the attacks were relentless for years. The plaque is also relatively new, it was unveiled by Joseph Muscat, the country’s Prime Minister, in 2017.

And here’s another photo of a cat, meandering around in front of the plaque.

Located in Upper Barrakka Gardens is this memorial to 15 men who died on the HMS Orwell when it was in collision with HMS Pioneer on 30 January 1903. The incident happened off Corfu and this memorial was funded by the officers and men of the fleet. The memorial is here as HMS Orwell was part of the Mediterranean fleet, which was stationed at Malta.

Above are some drawings of the collision which were published at the time by the Illustrated London News. Incidentally and curiously, eight of the fifteen men were called William, which seems an unusual coincidence. HMS Orwell was used extensively in the First World War and was then sent for scrap in 1920. A sad end. HMS Pioneer was scuttled in 1931, although it was re-discovered by divers in 2014.

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.