Valletta on a Sunday.....what were we thinking???

I'm fighting a cold but decided I had enough energy to get on a bus. So we went to Valletta. Sunday is not a good day to go anywhere if you don't feel like being in crowds. We were there early enough to be able to quietly walk the streets. Our destination was the south side of Valletta to see the views over the Grand Harbour.

 

Because everything is built of sandstone and it quickly gets discoloured from weather and atmosphere, it is sometimes hard to know what is new construction. This bell tower and the bronze statue that lays below it were built in 1992 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Malta receiving the George Cross from Britain for its valour during WWII. The reclining statue represents the 7000 civilian and armed forces lives that were lost between 1940 and 1943. The ten ton bronze bell rings daily at noon. We were there to hear it today.

 

It was sunny by the afternoon but very windy. I'm trying to stay in the sun but out of the wind. Not an easy task up here.

The views are breathtaking as you can see all along the Grand Harbour, from out at sea to almost as far back as Valletta's suburb of Floriana. I have read statistics that say 47% of Maltas population live within three kilometres of Floriana. It is where the majority of tourists also stay. The south side of the harbour is an area we plan to explore when we are in Marsascala. This includes 'The Three Cities', Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea ....an area that doesn't seem to draw nearly as many visitors.

I'm hungry, so we start our walk back into the Center of Valletta which means going back up and up and up. I roughly counted the steps....over 100....thigh muscles were humming by the time we reached the top.

 

 

Even though the sun is out it only gets through to the city streets in a few places. This would be a good thing in the heat of the summer but not so good for us. It's too cold to eat outside so we head back to the Bad Ass Whisky & Bistro to share our regular burger, with a beer and a wine.

I like coming to Valletta but dislike the always crowded and slow trip back. We tried to leave early to miss much of the traffic but it's Sunday and everyone is either out walking, driving or on the bus. It takes over an hour to go maybe 6/8 kilometres. Thankfully we got seats and we are home by 3:00pm. We did another chicken in orange sauce dinner with baked potatoes. I worked on my journal but my cold-clogged head couldn't blog. There's always tomorrow and it just might be a quiet catch up day.

 

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