Maltese wanderers. Through the yellow streets of Valletta
Why and why the Vorobeichikovs ended up in Malta, and how they lived there, can be found in the overview report "Maltese weekend. About life and transport (without history and sights)". Now the hands have reached the snot and salivareview of what they saw, but, anyway, without historical digressions. In general, what I see, I sing about, where I was, what I saw. . .
We are average tourists. Our trails are not much different from the standard routes of thousands of sightseeing places of the globe like us. Here's another, I don't know how many thousandth view of a yellow-brown island in a blue-blue sea - at Malta.
We flew to Malta in the morning. Miracle Island met us with bright February sun.
Triton Fountain
First of all, we went from the airport to the capital of the state - Valetta. In general, all the paths on the island, basically, run through it. And so, you have to start somewhere - so let's start with the main city of the country. Although, of course, for residents of large metropolitan areas, for example, it is difficult for me to realize that Malta is not one city, but many different towns and villages, very different and unlike each other, albeit very tiny in our understanding. Often they do not have any pronounced boundaries between themselves.
Views from the walls of the ancient capital of Malta - Mdina
I so love these first exciting minutes of descent, so to speak, to a new land for you. Completely unfamiliar, but already a little studied with the help of the omniscient Internet. But no matter how much you read and look at pictures, everything you see in real life becomes and remains seen for the first time in the future.
What are these bright spots?
Church of Saint Publius
Fancy kids around. . . Huge colored figures. . . Oh yes, it's carnival in Malta!
Yes, yes, we got to the carnival week, if you are curious, you can see the pictures in the selection "Ah, carnival -carnival, or Maslenitsa in Maltese".
The streets of Valletta swallowed and captivated us instantly.
The town is microscopic, built according to a clear parallel-perpendicular plan. But behind every intersection, a new perspective opens up.
There will definitely be a church on every street, and you can only identify it by its dome or bell tower. The building, as a rule, is located in a common row, in line with other houses. But I talked about this and, in general, about church luxury in the note "Maltese rpg. Fabulous luxury behind modest walls".
Most tourists, including us, try to get a midday shot in the Upper Barrakka Gardens.
Well, I don't know, I don't know. . . We weren't impressed personally. Firstly, there were too many people eager to see this event.
I had to watch the action through the priests of the crowd, following the example of smarter children.
Secondly, the process itself did not catch on. Somehow everything is out of sync, with hitches, and then quietly fluff - and that's it.
Maybe I'm already acting up. . . Two cannons are being loaded, a shot is fired from one. I later read that the second one was for insurance, all of a sudden the first one didn’t work. Undoubtedly, this action is necessary for the walled city, which Valletta is. This whole ritual was revived thanks to enthusiasts relatively recently, in the early 2000s. I read that on certain dates a shot is fired from all the cannons of the battery, this is probably spectacular.
If you buy a ticket for 3 euros, you can see the cannon exposition and be near the battery during the whole process, then they will let you feel, so to speak, the firing cannons.
But we'll go further. And what a view, what a view!
We never got to the other side of the Great Bay in the so-called Three Cities. What are our years, obviously not the last time in Malta : ))
But at the port where cruise liners moor (and as soon as they manage to do this), they looked. And, it happened quite by accident. We walked in the park near the bus station, waiting for the departure of the right bus.
Among the branches, something grandiose appeared:
That's it, I forgot about the bus. Of course, we urgently need to go there.
We have never seen such "monsters" up close. Like this, to be very close.
Ah, this "GRANDIOSA" is good!
My husband immediately got on the Internet (fortunately, there are no problems with access points in Malta) to study the parameters and characteristics of the liner. It turned out to be a perfect super-duper novelty, launched only in the fall of 2019. And there’s nothing to say about all sorts of gadgets for a comfortable pastime on the ocean open spaces : ).
But let's go further along Valletta. She is sometimes a little sloppy:
And, as it happens, improved:
Ancient Brutal:
And in a modern way, straightforward and elegant:
Colorized with Arabic balconies:
And English phone booths with yellow limestone retouched at the same time:
So small and endless:
Oh, and such a whole staircase : ))
Fabulous and mysterious:
And completely understandable for a modern person:
A holy place is never empty
This is how Valletta appeared before us - an explosive mixture of all times and peoples. As if someone decided to play pranks and mix toys components from different time boxes.
To be continued : )
