It was St Patrick's Day but we only saw a few folks in green. We heard later that some streets in Sliema were closed off for the binge drinking. Our goal for this day's excursion was to nail down our tickets for a Sunday concert celebrating Bach's 400 year anniversary. We tried to buy the tickets online but the ticket delivery system is snail mail. That was not going to work for us as tickets sitting in Florida will do us no good. So we thought we could just go to the venue and purchase tickets. No dice there either, as the office was all locked up. We were able to wander through Valetta the capital city of Malta and we purchased our bus passes. Valetta is chock full of delightful buildings and churches. it is a walled city built after the Great Siege of 1566 when the Ottoman Turks were repelled and the the island remained under the western sphere of influence. We found ourselves in the Our Lady of Victory and we bought tickets to return tomorrow for a concert.
The theater where we wanted to get tickets
Jean Parisot de Valette, the French commander who successfully led the Knights of St John in repelling the Ottoman Turks in the great siege of 1565
Valette then founded the walled town of Valetta
More statues
Grand buildings
An inn from the 1740's
A knotty sculpture
Does he have a fish?
Spooky
Give them a place to put up their stickers
This is Our Lady of Victory, the first church in Valetta and the first building in the new town of Valetta. Its first stone was laid down in 1566
Recently restored the interior is fantastic
Marble inlay tomb
A bit morbid
Elaborate knaves
Originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary all the paintings on the ceiling are Virgin Mary themed
the central street in Valetta
Papa!
The last public building built in Valetta by the Knights of St John in 1776 is a public library
In we go
Fantastic ceiling
Lots of stairs
What will we find at the top?
A book binding machine on the left
A micro fish machine. The technology is 100 years old!
No photography allowed but my Rayban glasses happened to take a few
Old manuscripts under glass
Floor to ceiling bookcases
That was quick!
Outside there are beautiful doors
So much detail
Valetta is pretty small
Bird strike sculpture?
Justice for wet sweaters
A musical instrument
The old moat?
Tree reaching for the sky
A large fountain
Platter of pigeons anyone?
We stopped for a snack at this large open square
With our new bus passes in hand we ride
Back in Sliema we see an excursion boat
We came to buy some essentials
A groovy interior
Rabbit anyone?
Getting ready to be green
On the edge
Another Smooth Haired Fox Terrier
A little girl inserting herself int this sculpture
So shiny!
