Marsaxlokk Market and Valletta walking tour

17,000 steps

Started off today by going to the tourist information office to gather as much information as we can to cover the next 4 days here. We have signed up for a free walking tour of Valletta this afternoon, so we have the morning to pick some things to do. Picked up a pile of brochures and as we exit an old fashioned bus pulls up with a sign that is going to Marsaxlokk, on Sunday this town has the biggest market in the country, so we are off. A regular bus costs 2 Euro a ride, this bus was 2.50 Euro a ride, so a no brainer, we knew it would take us exactly where we wanted to go. This wasn't really on our list of things to do but this is a town we had wanted to visit to see the colorful boats, so why not, we are off. It is about a 20 minute bumpy bus ride on the East side of the Island. It was a beautiful little town, but the market really takes it over. I am sure the restaurants miss having the spots to set up tables on the waterfront on market day. The market was pretty much what we expected, like the many markets we have been to in Europe. You can get just about everything for your house, or for cooking. Surprised there were not many places at all selling prepared food, we figured we would eat lunch here at the market but nothing much to eat at all, except of course ice cream. We did pick up strawberries, cherries, and a couple of date cookie things, but that was about it. Oh, our souvenir shopping for Malta is done, we got a magnet as well. We were there for about 2 hours and then we had enough, we were done with the crowds. It is not even high season yet, I can't imagine how busy it would be then.

Bus back to Valletta and back to the apartment and a 30 minute break before our free walking tour. This was the busiest tour we have been on in a while, there were about 20 of us, but it was still excellent. We have actually joined up for 2 more of his tours at other cities in Malta that we are really looking forward to. Lots of interesting political and history stories, the influence of England, they even still drive on the left hand side here. There are the old British phone booths all over the place, and of course the double decker tourist busses. We are in a very touristy part of Valletta, and we have discovered it is a very hilly city. Once you are on top it is not bad, but you have to get on top! We had never heard of the Order of St John, we had heard of the Templers but not St John Order. Very interesting, they founded Valletta and built amazing walls for protection that still stand. They were expelled by the French, then the British expelled the French, then Malta finally got independence in 1964 and are now part of the EU. St John Order still exists, very very interesting, they actually still have their own passports, but have no land. Now they only do charity work, mostly hospital, this is where St. John Ambulance comes from. They are made up of people from all over the world, and right now it is a Canadian that is in charge for the first time.

The biggest attraction here is the St. Johns Co Cathedral which the Maltese are very proud of. It is kind of a museum now outside mass hours and they charge 15 Euro to enter. Andre read the charge is because there would just be too many people visiting if they didn't charge. We have been in so many churches lately that we decided to go to the 5:45PM mass instead of paying 15Euro. We were able to get into the back of the church and I asked the usher if it would be bilingual, no Maltese only, so we decided to pass, but at least got a look inside this beautiful church. Outside it is nothing special, but inside it is fantastic.

Another funny church story we heard is when the Queen came to Malta there was no Anglican church, so she had one built and it was the highest building in the city. The Catholic did not like this so they built a Catholic church right beside it that looks like its steeple is only about 2 feet higher.

The guide said there was over 500 churches on the island, the island has a population of around 550,000.

Our tour guide told us one of his favourite streets for dinner/drinks is Straight Street, which is the street right beside us, so off we go. We have seen lots of signs for happy hour, so we take advantage of spritz for 9.00 Euro for 2 drinks. We added some fried calamari which was delicious.

Back home to our AIRBNB with a take out pizza, I am not going down those 40 steps again today, we are done. Not a huge step count but all those hills should count for more.

Looking forward to tomorrow, another adventure day I'm sure.

The view from our tiny balcony

Cemetery, if only we had a few more days

Lots of fresh vegetables at a great price

Planning to return another day but not sure because of time

Fish market

Seaside apartment

on the way out of town

Vineyards

Musician playing for tips on the main walking street

Used to be one of the headquarters for the St John order

What is called the 3 cities

Jean Parisot de Valet, defended the island against an Ottoman invasion. He was the grandmaster of the Knights of St John. They named the city after him

St John Co-Cathedral 

The embassy is inside the wall

The wall that was built to defend another attack from the Ottoman which never occured

There is actually 3 walls

Another fort to protect the city

The 2 churches that Wendy talked about

Inside St John Co-Cathedral, tombs of Nobles

Amazingly beautiful, so much gold

Delicious calamari on Strait Street and aperol spritz

Tons of places to eat and drink

the 2 churches at night.