The Old City

After catching the ferry back from Gozo to Malta, we decided to visit Mosta, the town where Lee had been born. We visited the beautiful church there with its huge rotunda ceiling modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. In 1942, 4 bombs were dropped right on the church with 1 going right through the roof during a service. None of them exploded so no-one was hurt. People see this as divine intervention. We saw a replica of the bomb in the Sacristy.

We had left the old city of Mdina with neighbouring Rabat as the last major destination of our visit to Malta. The only accommodation in Mdina is a 5 star hotel so we settled on a guest house just outside the town walls in neighbouring Rabat. By this time, it was extremely hot. Cold showers revived us before we set off to explore Mdina which had been Malta’s capital before Valletta was built in the 16th century.

Only 360 people live in Mdina but the fortified walls are impressive and every building is historic. Restaurants and gift shops occupy old palaces. We visited the impressive cathedral and its museum. There was an excellent display not only of the church’s riches but a wide general collection as well, including Carthaginian coins, each collection reflecting the history of Malta’s occupation. We also visited the Carmelite church and museum.

We also explored Rabat including St Paul’s church and the grotto where he lived when he was shipwrecked on Malta when he converted the population to Christianity.

Our favourite place was undoubtedly the catacombs, as being underground, we gained instant relief from the heat outside.

In the evening, when the temperature had cooled, we walked back into Mdina and had dinner perched on the bastions overlooking the Maltese countryside down to the illuminated dome of the church in Mosta.

Gail entering the old capital of Mdina

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The dome of the church in Mosta.

Church in Mosta.

In the quiet alleys of Mdina