Today we were headed to the fortress city of Mdina in the interior of the island. The buses were packed in the morning. I was disappointed that even though we were the first ones in line, people would rush and push in front as soon as the bus arrived. I’m not sure if they were rude tourists or locals. Younger people were not giving up their seats to seniors. I was glad when an older woman asked two girls in their early twenties for their seats and they complied.
Mdina is a gorgeous city. High on a hill overlooking much of the island, narrow streets, and apparently some of Game of Thrones was shot there as well.
Many of the Maltese doors have large, ornate handles and door knockers. There are also a lot of enclosed and glassed in wooden balconies in the architecture. These are called Maltese balconies.
We had a simple lunch and I toured the Co- Cathedral of St Paul and the museum while the rest of the crew wandered around.
We then walked into Rabat and to the St Paul Catacombs. They were really interesting. There had been Roman, pagan, Jewish and Christian burials there. We did bang our heads a few times on the low rock ceilings. There were rooms and rooms of carved out caverns. It was like a labyrinth with low lighting. Vince scared the insides out of me when he jumped out of a side tunnel. Then Vince called out that he had discovered some remains. I went down to inspect and deduced that it was the remains on a small dogs dinner.
We stopped for Maltese pastries on our way back to the bus. Time was on our side, we didn’t have to wait for the bus.
We changed clothes and took the ferry to Valetta for our last supper in Malta. The ferry was late because the 6:30 ferry was full and left early and the next one didn’t come until 7pm.
We went to a lovely restaurant in the old gunnery tunnel. The food was delicious and the company even better.
We took one more walk around Valetta; enjoying the lights and the evening views before catching the bus back to Sliema.