In Guardia

We had been waiting all week to see the In Guardia (or "on guard") re-enactment at St. Elmo's in Valletta.  We got up early, got the bus to Valletta, and walked over to the fort.  It seemed strangely empty, but we had arrived an hour early, so I thought it was ok.   

We walked around the fort looking for an entrance, but couldn't find one.  A few other tourists showed up, presumably for the re-enactment, and were just milling around.  Something didn't seem right to me.

It was now 10:20, the re-enactment was supposed to begin at 11:00.  I went to a cafe near the fort and asked about it.  The guy there said that the fort is under reconstruction and is closed.  He thought there was a parade going on in Birgu though.  CRAP!

Birgu is on the other side of the harbor!  It doesn't look far- by boat anyway.  Thomas thought we could walk around the harbor in 30 minutes, but when we turned a corner and saw how deep into the city the harbor actually goes, I knew we couldn't get there in even 2 hours!

I started cursing my head off.  @#! I will NOT miss this show! I planned it all week! Suddenly, I remembered from our stroll through Valletta the other day, that there were taxis at the Upper Barrakka Gardens near the Saluting Battery.  RUN!  We ran as fast as we could to the gardens.  I'm so badly out of shape, that it was tough for me and I was cursing under my breath the whole way.  It took us almost 15 minutes to get there.  I ran over to a taxi and told the guy that we wanted to go to Birgu, but not just anywhere in Birgu, we wanted to see the In Guardia parade.  I said, "We have 20 minutes to get to this parade, if you can't get us there by 11:00, then it isn't worth it for us to go at all. Another guy in the passenger seat ran and asked someone to confirm it was in Birgu, because they thought it was in nearby Kalkara.  The taxi driver promised we would find it.  How much?  I asked.  "Around 25 euros" he replied.  Ugh.  Fine. 

We sped off; careening around the corners and me feeling car sick.  The clock was ticking.  We got to Birgu, and our taxi driver stopped and asked, in Maltese, where the re-enactment was.  They pointed us off in some direction and when we got there - not it.  Our driver asked some one else, "Aiwa" (yes) they guy replied and pointed us off somewhere else.  Our taxi driver turned around and laughingly said, "They all say they know where it is, but they keep sending us to different places."

Finally!  At 10:55!  We made it!

One thing that is really interesting about the Maltese language, is that it is this weird mix of Arabic and Italian.  Words like, "aiwa & le" (yes & no) are basically Arabic.  But "fine thank you" is "tayeb grazzi". "Tayeb" - "fine" in Arabic.  "Grazzi"- "Thank you" in Italian.  I know a bit of both languages, so it was perfect for me!

The drummers' entrance.

The In Guardia parade is an re-enactment portraying the inspection of the fort and its garrison by the Grand Bailiff of  the Order of the Knights of St. John.  These inspections regularly took place inside important military fortifications in Malta and Gozo.  During the inspections, the soldiers and knights perform a military drill demonstrating to the Grand Bailiff the garrison's state of readiness in the event of a military threat.

Who exactly were the Knights of St. John?  Also knows as The Hospitallers, the Knights were a group of individuals associated with the Amalfitan hospital in Jerusalem, which was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and was founded around 1023 by Blessed Gerard to provide care for poor, sick or injured pilgrims to the Holy Land.

The organization became a religious and military order after the Western Christian conquest of Jerusalem in 1099.  They were charged with care and defense of the Holy Land until its conquest by Islamic forces, after which time they shifted their headquarters to Rhodes, and later to Malta.

Thomas got this nice shot of the rifle thingy while I cowered against the wall.

"En guard!"

A split second before the cannon went off! Scared the crap out of me again!  Thanks Thomas for this photo.

Entrance of the guard.

The shooting of the guns!

En guard!

Great show!

My mom told me that her father belonged to the Knight's of St. John, which, today is a fraternal Catholic organization dedicated to helping people. She said he was very proud of it, and was even buried in his uniform. I thought she was wrong and probably meant the Knights of Columbus.  She insisted I was wrong.  I told her I was sure I remembered seeing a picture of him in the uniform and asked her if she could find it and scan it.  Sure enough she was right.

My mother's father in his Knight's of St. John Uniform.

After the show, we took a walk around Birgu before heading over to the Archaeology Museum back in Valletta.

Often described as a "sleeping mother goddess" or Sleeping Lady, the figure is thought to represent Death or eternal sleep.

This figurine known as the Venus of Malta was probably used in religious fertility cults.

That was our last day in Malta.  On New Year's Eve, we headed back to Munich and on to Salzburg for the festivities.

Falcons and Dingli Cliffs

Today we wanted to go back to the Falconry Center that was closed on our first day in Malta.  There was a bird show scheduled for the afternoon, but it was a bit windy so we half expected it to be cancelled.  We decided to check it out anyway.

After missing our bus that was so late that we thought it wasn't coming, we finally made it over to the town of Siġġiewi where the falconry center is located.  The show was cancelled due to wind, no surprise, but the care takers were happy to chat with us and let us hold some of the birds.  There were just a handful of people in the whole place, so we chatted for over an hour.  Last year, I had been to the Falconry Festival in Al Ain, and snapped a picture of the Malta crew. 

The town square of Siġġiewi

A big ol' vulture.

First, we got to hold a Barn Owl.

Harris Hawks sunning themselves.

Thomas and his new girlfriend, Hanna the Hawk.

Little love bites.

Looking at the old church while waiting for the bus.

It was a bit later than I hoped it would be, but still enough time to take a short ride out to Dingli Cliffs and catch the sunset.  Dingli Cliffs are the highest point on the island reaching about 250 meters above sea level.  I know this is wrong, but I really kept wanting to call it Dingleberry Cliffs!  Tee hee!

Thomas, with Filfla Island in the distance.

Sheepies and goaties!  Here they come!

And there they go.  Poor guy on the left was trying to keep his small dog from getting trampled.

 Stampede!!

It was getting dark -fast! And very cold. I decided I didn't like the idea of being on a bus that would be careening around the cliffs in the dark, so we hopped the very next bus we could at dusk and headed back in to town.

Valletta

On this chilly morning,we headed over to Valletta to walk around and check out the sites there.

Valletta was named after Jean Parosot de la Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion, known as the Great Siege of Malta, in 1565.  It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage city in 1980.  The siege was one of the bloodiest and most celebrated events in the 16th century, and was the climax of an escalating contest between a Christian alliance and the Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean.

Waiting for the morning bus on a chilly day.

Each morning we saw these boats sailing around together.

When we first arrived in the city, there were these native men playing some pan flutes.  One guy was from Chile and the other was from Mexico.

Here is a little sampling of their music.

The highlight of our day trip to Valletta was St. John's Co-Cathedral. 

St. John's Co-Cathedral is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of the order.  According to the Co-Cathedral's official website, After the knights' victory over the Ottomans, they turned  Malta into a "fortress that befitted a military Order and built a new capital worthy of noblemen.  Pride of place in the center of the new city 'Valletta' was reserved for their church."

Building was completed on St John's in 1577.  The exterior is plain and somber reflecting the mood of the Order after the Great Siege.  The  8 chapels on either side of the nave were assigned to the various "langues" (meaning tongues) or sections of the Knights, and each was dedicated to its own patron saint: 

The Chapel of Provence: St Michael, The Chapel of France: The Conversion of St. Paul, The Chapel of Italy: St. Catherine, The Chapel of Germany: The Epiphany of Christ, The Chapel of Auvergne: St. Sebastian, The Chapel of Aragon: St. George, The Chapel of Castile, Leon & Portugal: St. James The Greater, and The Chapel of Anglo-Bavaria was known as the Chapel of the Relic where the knights kept the relics they had acquired through the centuries.

The church interior was redecorated in the new Baroque style to reflect the era's flamboyancy.  It was largely decorated by Mattia Preti, the Calabrian artist and Knight.

In 1941, during the Second World War, St. John's Co-Cathedral suffered severe damage as a result of a bombing attack over Valletta, but fortunately, the contents had been transferred elsewhere before the strike.

As I mentioned, the facade is not very interesting, but when we entered the church I drew in a breath and exclaimed, "Ooooooh!" It was  really beautiful.

The ceiling of St. John's.

The collection of in-laid marble tombstones in the nave contain the remains of important knights.  They illustrate the coat of arms of the knight buried below, images relevant to that knight, and often tell a story of triumph in battle.

View of the alter from inside the nave.

Also in Valletta, is the Grand Master's Palace, which we, regretfully didn't tour on the day. 

Guards outside the Grand Master's Palace.

Changing of the guard.

A view from the Grand Harbor.

Another view of the Grand Harbor.

The Siege Bell Memorial erected in 1992 to honor the over 7000 people who lost their lives in the WWII Siege of Malta from 1940-1943; 50 years after the island was awarded the George Cross of Bravery.  It weighs 10 tons and is rung daily at noon.

Old buildings near the harbor.

More old buildings near the harbor.

The main purpose of the Saluting Battery was for protection of the harbor against a Naval assault.  From the 1820's a gun was also fired at mid-day to signal out the exact hour of the day by which Ship Masters would calibrate their chronographs on board.  These time pieces were used up to the early part of the 20th century to find longitude at sea.

Mdina & Rabat

Mdina was once the medieval walled capital of Malta, situated on a hill in the center of the island. In fact, "Mdina" is the Arabic word for "walled city."  Mdina is also commonly called the "Silent City" due to it's low population of just over 300 people and the prohibition of cars within the city walls.

Mdina has been inhabited since around 700 BC.  First by the Phoenicians, then by the Normans after their conquest of Malta in 1091 AD.  By 1530 AD, it had passed on to the Knights of St. John.

The entrance to Mdina.

A view of Malta from the walled city.

Inside Mdina.

Walking down the crooked streets of the "Silent City."

The trench dividing Mdina from its suburb of Rabat.

Mdina church.

Rabat is the Arabic word for "suburb" and is the home of the famous Catacombs of St. Paul and St. Agatha.  It was getting dark and cold; no time to see both.  In addition to being used for burial in ancient Roman times, the catacombs were also where early Christians secretly met and performed Mass until Constantine I made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

According to tradition, it was here that in 60 AD, the Apostle St. Paul is said to have lived after being shipwrecked on the Islands.  It is also said that St. Paul resided inside the grotto known as Fuori le Mura (outside the city walls) now known as St. Paul's Grotto in Rabat.We tried to find the entrance to this grotto near St. Paul's Church, but I guess it had already closed for the day.

We chose, instead, to go to the St. Agatha Catacombs because they had some unique frescoes on the wall anyway.  They extend 4100 square meters and date to the 2nd & 3rd century AD. There are over 500 graves of several types, the majority are of children.  There are sections for pagans and Jews as well as Christians.  We only saw about 1/10 of the entire complex!

No pictures allowed unfortunately, so here is just one of her crypt I found on the internet.

By now it was dark and cold, we headed off to the bus and back to our rented flat in Sliema for some homemade chili!

Panorama shot of Sliema and the bay.