malta: malta: mosta and mdina and rabat

Since the island of Malta is relatively small and has good transport to get all over, I decided to sleep in Valletta for three or four nights and do a couple day trips to see sights in other places.

Malta has a lot of history in war, despite being quite small. The most recent war in which fighting happened on the island was WW2. The geographic importance of the island was huge, it was actually under seige for over two years.

I wanted to see a part of that particular history, so I hopped on a bus to the small town of Mosta, which of course has a giant church. The ride was not long, and the bus stop is obvious, right next to the church. Despite being huge, it is 'just' a parrish church.

The name of the church is the Basilica of the Assumption of our Lady, but not one calls it by that name. It is more commonly known as the Mosta Dome or Rotunda of Mosta, because that is the part of the church through which history happened.

The chuch goes back to the early 17^th century, though that building was much smaller. In the 19^th century a new church was built, right around the old church. Wikipedia tells me local citizens helped out with some of the building, on Sundays and holidays.

The dome is huge, it was the third largest in Europe at one point. The interior diameter is 37 meters, not too shabby. The walls holding it up are 30 feet thick! Even though the church is circular, there are side chapels all around the circle.

On 9 April 1942 the Luftwaffe dropped three bombs in the area in the evening. One of them went straight through the rotunda, while a gathering of 300 people was celebrating an evening service inside the church. The bomb didn't explode, it just sat in the middle of the floor. Needless to say, this was considered a miracle.

Engineers from the Royal Bomb Disposal unit defused the bomb and dumped the remains in the sea off the island, and a replica is now inside the church. The story behind the bomb is the reason anyone comes to Mosta, because the town is otherwise unremarkable.

There is an entry fee to this church, sigh. It isn't much, but it's still annoying. It doesn't take long to walk through the church, appreciating what happened, as well as appreciating the artistry of the building itself.

After seeing the church I walked into one of several nearby bakeries to pick up snacks. No, I didn't need the piece of cake, but I have no regrets :)

I went back to the same bus stop to catch my next bus, out to the walled city of Mdina. This bus stop was also right next to where I wanted to go, yippee!

Mdina is an ancient walled city, it was actually the capital of the island from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The walls are still standing, and the whole thing is still really photogenic. 

Continued reading in Wikipedia tells me the current population is around 43.

Like many cities from way back in the day, the streets in Mdina are not straight, and they are narrow. The greatest part of exploring Mdina is getting lost in the many small alleys. You start walking into one of them and you're never sure where you'll end up.

There were of course several churches. One of the churches I passed had locked gates in front, but the doors behind the gates were open. In other words I was able to peek inside, but was not able to go in. 

Another church was part of a monastery, it was actually a chapel with a beautiful ceiling. There was another huge church with an entry fee, I was getting tired of the fees by this point. That being said, the fee on this one included entry in the next door museum, which was quite nice.

After getting completely turned around in the alleys a number of times, I felt like I'd seen most of Mdina, so I walked back out of the main gate, (there is a moat around the city, I wonder what it looked like back in its heyday,) and to the modern city next door, called Rabat.

Even though Rabat is thought of as the 'new' city, it was part of the core of the original medieval city before Mdina was split off, and has plenty of visible history. I found more churches, and well known catacombs. The biggest church in Rabat was free, thank goodness.

Rabat isn't nearly as pretty as Mdina, but there are more than 11,000 people living there. It definitely feels more alive than Mdina. (to be honest, Mdina feels more like an Instagram location now, not so much a real city. There are heaps of people in the really photogenic spots - doors with floral decorations, etc - but no markets anything real.)

After finishing exploring I walked down the main road until I found a bus stop in the shade. I'm not usually such a fan of shade when sun is an option, but the past couple days in the direct sun had gotten to me.
I had to wait a while, but eventually a bus came along and brought me back to Valletta.