10/10/24: Goodbye Gozo & Hello Again to Malta!

After previously touring much of the Maltese island of Gozo, Steven and I explored the capital of Victoria, formerly known as Rabat, and still called that by many islanders. It was named for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1897. Teatru Astra, located in the center of the town, has been offering high-caliber cultural offerings for the last 50 years, helping to make the city an important tourist destination.

Pjazzza Indipendenza, the city's main square, was known as It-Tokk or the 'meeting place.' The semicircular Baroque building at one end of the square was Banca Giuatale, built in 1763 to house the city council. After being restored in 2016, it now hosts occasional art and cultural exhibitions.

It was a delight to stroll down the maze of charming, narrow lanes, peek into shops, and check out the sidewalk displays in the old town district of Il-Borgo.

In another picturesque square was the Basilica of St. George, considered one of the most architecturally and artistically important, as well as religiously and culturally important, churches in Gozo. The parish originated in medieval times, most likely before 1450. 

This church is referred to as the Marble Basilica, as it was entirely covered with marble. 

The sublime dome of the Adoration Chapel:

And another impressive dome:

The lavish interior contained a fine altarpiece of St. George Slaying the Dragon by the renowned Italian artist Mattia Preti, whose works we'd seen throughout Sicily.

Lina: Your comment on another Malta post about lovely stone churches in Quebec's small towns made me think of this stunning cathedral, even though St. George's was not in one of Gozo's villages or small towns like the other amazing churches.

Before the basilica was added to in 1935, a feast was celebrated in front of this 18th-century statue.

The Villa Rundle Gardens were laid out around 1914 by Malta's Governor.

We weren't impressed with the park, except for one bench that remarkably played music by local Joseph Vella!

From high above Victoria, we had stellar views over to the islands of Comino and Malta. Ten minutes later, we were on the ferry back to the Maltese mainland for just $24 round trip.

Our last view of the town of Mgarr on Gozo and the Church of the Madonna of Lourdes, high on the hill:

After landing on Malta, it was a short drive to the Xemxija Heritage Trail on the north shore of St. Paul's Bay. Xemx means 'sun' in Malti.

The Imgie Ban was an apiary where bees had been kept for honey for over two thousand years.

At over a thousand years old, this was the oldest carob tree in the Maltese Islands. Its pod-shaped fruit, harvested in mid-August and known in northern countries as St. John's Bread, was the main source of fodder for goats, sheep, cattle, and even rabbits. The tree also provides food for bees who thrive on its flowers. A homemade syrup prepared from the fruit is still very popular for soothing a cough. The fleshy part of the fruit was consumed by hungry Maltese in very rough times during World War II. Some people believe that the word 'carat' used for weighing gold is derived from the Arabic word 'qirat,' the carob seed used for weight.

We enjoyed resting under the carob's widespread branches, which provided welcome shade. Franz Scerri, mystified by its beauty, wrote this poem in March 1989. Click on the photo to read it.

We reached the second cave on the trail before arriving at a plateau and pretty views of the countryside. Before becoming an apiary, the cave was used for burials in the late Roman period, circa 1000 AD.

Note the crosses carved into the rock.

Boats bobbing in pretty St. Paul's Bay:

Overlooking St. Paul's Bay, Għajn Rażul or Apostle's Spring is a fountain or spring that is traditionally believed to have been miraculously created by St. Paul after touching the rocks to provide water for the survivors of his shipwreck in the bay around 60 AD. Because the fountain is a significant site for Christians, Malta celebrates the Feast of St. Paul's Shipwreck, a major public holiday, on February 10th, to commemorate the event. 

Nearby was Wignacourt Tower, the first of the defensive towers built by Grand Master Wignacourt in 1609.

In the old fishing village of St. Paul's Bay, St. Paul's Chapel, also known as the Shipwreck Chapel and the Chapel of the Bonfire, stood on the site where, according to tradition, the Maltese lit a fire so that Paul and his companions could warm themselves after the shipwreck.

Salina Nature Reserve, situated on the recently restored Salina Salt Pans built by the Knights of St. John in the 16th century, was the newest of the nature reserves managed by Birdlife Malta. 

I was surprised to see the Native American proverb as we walked along the reserve: "We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our ancestors."

A large bug hotel!

Saline marshes have become a very rare and endangered type of plant community in the Maltese Islands. This one used to be one of the largest before being degraded due to constant human interference. 

A bird hide in the reserve:

Steven and I then drove a few miles to Naxxar to view the Parish Church of Our Lady, one of the tallest Baroque buildings in Malta. 

Opposite the church was the Peace Band Club, which aimed to provide the latest professional teaching system in music, both theory and practice, at no charge. You may remember from one of my first posts on Malta that most towns have their own band clubs. 

Just up the street was Palazzo Parisio, originally built in 1733 by a Grand Master before being acquired and refurbished in the late 19th century by a Maltese noble family. If we'd gotten a glimpse of the interior, we would have no doubt loved the gilded ballroom and the Baroque gardens, which resembled a miniature Versailles!

I'd been looking forward to visiting the T'Qali Crafts Village located in a former RAF wartime airfield in Attard, but it was a total bust. The signage was terrible, and there was barely anything open.

In a country with relatively few sculptures, this one in neighboring Mosta definitely caught my eye!

Mosta is famous for its domed church, the Parish Church of Santa Maria, which was built in the mid-19th century and is better known as the Rotunda or Mosta Dome.

Its circular design and six-columned portico were closely based on Rome's Pantheon. Its huge, 61m-high, and almost 40 m-wide dome made it visible from most parts of Malta. It was also notable for being one of the world's largest domes. 

The admission fee included a mandatory climb up to the dome before viewing the church. It was fun reading sayings by Dostoyevsky: Beauty will save the world; St. Teresa of Calcutta: We fear the future because we are wasting today; St. Jerome: Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Till your good is better and your better is best; Khalil Gibran, Charlie Chaplin - although his wasn't translated from Italian for some reason - and others as we walked to the top.

At least, we were rewarded with lovely views after the climb!

The dome appeared to reach the heavens!

The Baptismal Font: 

On April 9th, 1942, four German bombs hit the church. Three didn't explode, but this one penetrated the dome and landed in the middle of the church. Fortunately, no one in the church at the time suffered any injury. The Mostin or residents of Mosta view it as divine intervention that no one was hurt, and that damage to the Rotunda wasn't extensive. 

The Sacristy:

The Vestry:

Steven and I found the magnificent church to be soothing and peaceful, not at all gaudy like some other Maltese churches. It was impressive that much of the church building was done by Mostin men, women, and children on Sundays and holy days of obligation without remuneration.

Adjacent to the church was an air raid shelter, which residents could use at their own risk after the Take Cover notice was given.

Malta had been a colony of the British Empire since 1813 and was referred to as a Fortress Island due to its use as a military stronghold. Malta's strategic position was of great importance to the interests of the British Empire. The alliance between Mussolini and Hitler, when they met in 1937 in Berlin, would make Malta a vulnerable target.

A day after Mussolini followed Hitler to war in June 1940, the first bombs were dropped on Malta. The Axis countries decided to try and starve the Islands and drive them into capitulation. Malta was only lightly defended at first, until the Allies realized that losing the island chain would be costly and that its defense was necessary. To keep themselves safe from aerial attacks, the Maltese began digging air raid shelters.

German Luftwaffe pilots in Sicily wrote "iron greetings to Malta" on bombs.

A photo of the hole in the Mosta Rotunda following the April 9th, 1942, attack:

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Valletta in 1943.

The shelter's First Aid Post:

Next post: The dreamy Three Villages between Mosta and Valletta on our last day.

Posted on April 5th, 2025, from Denver on a day that began cloudy and snowy, a day after our hometown Colorado Rockies baseball team lost their season opener here at home. Nothing new, unfortunately! Wishing you and your loved ones good health and happiness.