David's Diary: Monday, October 14, 2002

Valetta, Malta

It is a beautiful day today. We have not seen Valletta, the fortified central city of Malta built by the Knights of St. John, so plan to do so in the afternoon. Karalee is teaching, so I leave them in the morning to go and take pictures of Valletta. We agree to meet at 2:00 outside the cities central gate so that we can spend time exploring.

The Knights of St. John have a long history. Originally created to provide medical help along the crusade route, they eventually became a military force in order to protect their own medical facilities. By 1309, the order had acquired the island of Rhodes, where they lived for over 200 years. But friction with the Turks (Rhodes is now an island in Greece, but it is located close to the SW corner of Turkey), caused the Turks to drive the Knights from Rhodes in 1523. The Knights eventually settled in Malta in 1530.

In 1565 a Turkish fleet with 30,000 men laid siege to Malta. The Muslim Turks were determined to see the end of the Christian Knights, who only numbered 700, along with about 7,000 Maltese irregulars. Jean Parisot de la Valette, the Grand Master of the Order at that time, saw the survival of the Knights through the brutal siege. The peninsula that now is home to the city of Valletta was barren at that time, except for St. Elmo, a fort that overlooked harbours on both sides of the long and skinny peninsula. After defeating the Turks, the Knights were hailed as heroes by monarchs throughout Christian Europe. Having survived the siege, the Knights started on the fortifications that you can still see today in Valletta and named the city after the Grand Master that saw them through their ordeal.

Maltese Bus showing off its bright colours

When you arrive in Malta you cannot help but notice the brightly painted buses. Most of them are classic British models dating from the 1050's, '60s, and '70s. While beautiful to look at, the seats are tiny and the suspensions bounce you around as the buses go over the numerous potholes in Maltese roads. It is an experience to be on one of these classics, but we're glad that we don't live in Malta and have to take them every day. I ride the bus from Msida, where Dragonsinger is located, into Valletta and walk around the pedestrian streets taking in the sights.

St. John's Co-Cathedral

After taking pictures, having lunch, and walking around some more, I meet Karalee, Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen at City Gate where almost all buses on Malta eventually arrive. We walk to St. John's Co-Cathedral. Built in 1573-1578, it was the center for the Knight's worship. The Order of St. John is divided into langues (i.e., tongues or languages). Inside the Cathedral, there are eight chapels dedicated to each of the langues.

We took our time and visited each of the chapels. We then stood and looked up the central nave to the altar as the afternoon light filtered in through the high windows. Chairs waiting for the Knights lined each side of the nave and tall candles stood ready to be lit. It was pleasant to be inside the cool church interior as we tried to absorb all that we were seeing around us. Then it was time to go back outside, find a street-side cafe where we stopped for drinks and ice cream before making our way back to the buses and the trip back to Dragonsinger.