A Month in Malta – The Three Cities
Believe it or not, we have been here for a month in Malta and most of that month has been spent in either the boatyard at Marsa or in the Vittoriosa / Birgu area.
The Three Cities
The Three cities are Vittoriosa, Senglea, and Cospicua the fortified cities that sit on the southeast side of Grand Harbour and Marsa is on the very southern tip. Most of our travel is by Ecab between the boatyard and the Birgu apartment. If we go to Valletta or Sliema we go by ferry/bus/ferry which is very efficient. The bus between the ferries is free and the ferry for a ride one way is €0.50 Euro. Often we take the small local boats for the second part of the journey on the way back €2 and get dropped right at the gateway into Birgu.
I thought I should just show you some of the everyday landscape around where we live. and show you that it is not all about boatyards!! This blog is more of a photo and video essay. I hope this will give you a feeling for the area.
Firstly you need to understand that Malta’s population is 95% Roman Catholic and there is 1 church per 1000 people. Therefore churches are everywhere and their festivals occur all the time so very ingrained in life here and very much part of every community – day and night. Maltese like flags, fireworks, and bangers( fireworks with noise but no lights for daytime) and guns, therefore, all the celebrations are also accompanied by lights and noise (and usually processions – but not under current covid rules). The two maps below will give you an indication of the numbers you can find even more by decreasing the scales on google maps.
Churches of Birgu
Close to the apartment is the marina and all the restaurants and the Malta Maritime museum which has unfortunately been shut for renovations.
Saint Dominics Festival
One evening on a walk after dinner we came across the celebration for Saint Dominic. 800 years since his death 1221 – 2021. The streets had been shut off due to the requirement of covid numbers limits but you could still get a very good view. Normally they would walk St Dominic on their shoulders from one of the other cities all the way to his church before putting him up on his pedestal. The whole village was out helping. All helpers in special T-shirts and the brass band in great form.
A fairly long video https://youtu.be/wbGtXfYc9Gc
500m away is the small village with shops and little cafes, then 1 km away is the town center of Cospicua with more little shops and additional cellphone, appliance and clothing shops. The politicians get bronze statues and the Madonna statue gold.
Masks are everywhere here. Many disposables , but also many coton masks often depicting the company logo or matching dresses. There are also a few plastic face – some full face and some chin only as in the photo below.
I have not mentioned the Maltese people but they are a very friendly and helpful bunch general. The other noticeable trait is that they are generally much shorter. Anyone tall is a visitor. It is difficult to take photos of the difference but here is an example. this is not distortion. Some of them are very short and would look like children in New Zealand.
Senglea
Over the estuary is Senglea with more restaurants including a very good fish restaurant. There is also another very prominent church. Saint Julians mentioned in the video above.
We will leave the three cities here and talk of Valletta and Sliema next time.
