TMQE Travels are travelling again! This time it’s Valletta, the capital of Malta, where we visit the Marsamxett and Grand Harbours, the ancient streets of downtown Valletta, Birgu and the Three Cities, Sliema, St Julian’s and watched the annual Valletta Firework Festival.
Jérémy and Ben here again! We love to travel and to satisfy our wanderlust, we are on a European roadtrip exploring the best places for a city break on the continent. We love to escape Britain to experience the best culture, cuisine and attractions that Europe has to offer. If you’re a tourist like us and just need a good itinerary for what to do and how to do it when you’re in Milan, we will show you the best things to put on your itinerary.
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Valletta has been the capital of Malta since the sixteenth century, when the Knights of Saint John arrived in Malta and decided to take advantage of the area’s unique topography. Crowded onto a tiny peninsula of land, it juts out into the sea with the Grand Harbour to the east and the Marsamxett Harbour to the west.
Officially, Valletta has only 6,444 residents on that peninsula, making it the smallest capital in the EU, but in reality the urban sprawl of Valletta covers the entirety of both harbours and beyond, with a population more like 394,000.
The roads in Valletta are narrow, set out on a grid pattern with steep streets crowded with ancient sixteenth century buildings. The most distinctive thing about Maltese houses are the unique window balconies that are attached to most buildings in the city. We had one attached to our hotel room, which was very quaint. Inside the city walls are a slew of churches and monuments, but the best thing is always stumbling out of the gloom of the shadowy streets to be met by met by these amazing views.
If you want something distinctly Maltese to eat, try a pastizzi. Which is either ricotta or peas deep fried in flaked filo pastry. No, but they did love a good war. A military order tasked with protecting the Holy Land, they arrived on Malta in 1530 having been given the island as a base by the Pope after Israel was conquered by Muslim forces. But when Turkish forces invaded their settlements in 1565, they decided they needed to take advantage of the harbours unusual landscape and build a fortified and impregnable walled city surrounded by sea. The result was Valletta and the Knights were in full control of the island until 1798, when Napoleon invaded.
On the other side of the water are the Three Cities, which are small towns, each sat on their own peninsulas jutting out into the Grand Harbour. Birgu, Senglea and Bormla have now been completely swallowed by Greater Valletta, but used to be separate towns. Birgu is the oldest and was the Kinghts’ first base when they arrived in Malta, building Fort Saint Elmo at the end. But after the aforementioned siege, in which they lost the fort to the Turks, they quickly relocated to Valletta, leaving the town to go back to being a sleepy fishing village, which it still resembles today. A sleepy fishing village with trendy restaurants and stunning views. The best kind.
Out in the opposite direction from Valletta and across the Marsamxett Harbour is Sliema. Where Valletta is an ancient museum (and, incidentally, entirely a UNESCO World Heritage Site), Sliema is a modern resort with gleaming hotels crowded around the sea front, restaurants and shopping malls. The walk along the sea front is stunning and it continues up the coast as it becomes St Julian’s, which is party central for tourists wanting to go for a boozy break on this Mediterranean island.
Sunset over the harbour is, of course, beautiful, but Valletta by night is something quite spectacular. And we were lucky enough to be present during one of the highlights of their year, the Valletta Firework Festival! Firework manufacture is one of the big industries on Malta and throughout the summer there are small firework festivals in all the towns across the island. The Valletta Festival is the culmination of it all, in which the big companies all compete against each other, trying to set their best displays to the beat of a song. The result is an absolute spectacle playing out above the Grand Harbour. And we were lucky enough to have our hotel roof terrace to ourselves, directly in front of it. Which completely blew our minds. Just like Valletta itself…(read more)
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