Having arrived already there is no sail-in today, wer're already on stand and passengers pour off early to beat the intense sunshine, apart from us, obviously. We head up through the local terminal, until we pass the Trident Fountain, sadly buried amongst the bus-station's crazy busses and a building site. We head off to the city gate and the top of the Main Street, looking for Hastings Park, but upon finding this see that it's closed. Not a great start to our day in Valetta! My memories are rose-tinted from the first ever cruise I took, when, in 1979 - aged just 14 - we boarded SS Uganda in this very same harbour.
My how things have changed. Today we've moved on and are now looking at the ruin of the Opera House, clear evidence Hitler disapproved of the programming here. It's been rejuvenated just recently and is now an outdoor performance space. We quickly realise that Valetta and Malta are very much defined by the consequences of the last war, and indeed by ones previous to that.
After spending the majority of the last week on quiet, reflective walks away from the madding crowd, at first we were a little bemused by the hustle on the Main Street, it was extremely busy, not in the least part a consequence of two 3000+ sized ships sandwiching us in port today, plus loads of other tourists of course. We rapidly worked through our planned tour and as we found some side streets the calm prevailed. We explored some lovely squares, churches and eventually find Teatru Manueol which is almost 300 years old. In keeping with a lot of the city it's exterior might let you think it was a derelict shell, but inside lies a wonderful jewel complete with a cute little museum and a very relaxed attitude to visitors. We (after paying, of course) had a good look round the museum and then into the auditorium. Boxes up to the ceiling were great, even 'stage boxes' are here - fine for a recital perhaps but not the best for hearing an orchestra and certainly not for staged production.
Moving back into the real world we head towards the tip of the peninsula to find Fort St Elmo which is now a war museum. And how good? What a fascinating collection they have. The history of Malta is incredible, starting with the Knights in C16 this island has been a pivotal focus of many of the World's conflicts, unsurprising when you consider its location midway between the East and the West. And of course the British influence is significant, particularly when for once we didn't just pillage and rape, here we were invited to protect. This ran from 1814 to 1964 and now Malta is independent and, like Switzerland, politically neutral.
Finally we returned to home for a much needed late lunch and rest before heading to the stern for a cooling dip in a pool and a tad of sunshine we enjoy sail away from the rear today, it's quite incredible as we slowly pass out from this walled city and grand harbour which has seen so much conflict in the last almost 500 years.
I had my own conflict with chef later, but I will apologise when I see him next! Decided not to report on this, let's hope all comes good.
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