Monday 21st May

Had Dick's nightmare over the last 2 days when his computer refused to do anything as a download appeared to have stopped it in its tracks. Today we found a computer repair place close by & took it over.

Having found a repairer we set off into Valletta &took a ferry to Vittoriosa, formerly Birgu, the original settlement before Valletta was founded after the Great Siege of Malta by the Turks in 1565. The town is on a peninsular & is truly a mediaeval place with very narrow roads and is very picturesque.

We stumbled on the Inquisitor's Palace where the Roman Inquisition, which was as its name implies the centre for the prosecution, trials & punishment of heresy & witchcraft from 1530 - 1798 when Napoleon obligingly abolished these powers. It is a very interesting building which has been modified extensively over its long period of occupation. d*** found it fascinating that the Inquisitors role was seen as an important stepping stone towards becoming a cardinal or even a pope so it was a sought after job. One of the saddest aspects was a story of 2 English Quaker ladies en route to the Holy Land who were detained in its cells for 3 years in the 1690s because of their beliefs.

Leaving there we had a pleasant break in the town square for a snack before tackling Fort St Angelo the Knights of St John's major fortress during the "Great Siege" which later became the British Naval Base. It is huge & holds 3excellent audio visual presentation units covering the history of this incredible place from the Phoenicians to now. We walked for what seemed like miles climbing up long ramps & staircases between the various areas & were nearly exhausted at the end.

In the basin below were a mass of yachts ranging from 10 - 100m in size, in numbers we could hardly believe.

Walking back along the wharf we came to our final museum of the day, the Maltese Maritime Museum which although large & fairly comprehensive to which we could hardly do justice.

On the bus back to Floriana we were told the computer's contents had been completely corrupted & lost so would need to be reformatted. Luckily most of the useful contents had been backed up but a lot is in Perth. Woe is us!!

Had a fairly average meal & retired late.

Tuesday 22nd May

Walked into Valletta & after a compulsory coffee, were nearly at the head of the queue for St John's Co Cathedral at 9.30. We have seen quite a few such edifices before but this one really takes the cake for the opulence of its interior. Each of the 8 Langues (language/ geographical groupings of St John's knights) obviously vied to outdo their rivals in the matter of decorating their own chapels resulting in extraordinary splendour. The audio guide was brilliant & we spent nearly 2 hours wandering around the place. For us the highlight was 2 paintings by Caravaggio, who was quite brilliant.

The next stop was St Paul's Shipwreck Church, the entry of which took some finding. By Maltese standards it is fairly ordinary & it certainly needs some maintenance but it had its quota of fine silver work & a high altar that would be the envy of any other city's church & was very pleasing.

Leaving there we went to a recital in an Augustinian Convent given by a tenor & a pianist. The room was small & domed & the young tenor's excellent voice almost literally deafened us at full volume finishing with Nessen Dormer which lifted the roof.

We then had a conducted tour of the rooms of the convent which like so many has very depleted numbers of monks now.

Back at the unit we were told that the computer was fixed but there were some minor problems so we went to pick it up. Luckily we managed to load some programs to start again so not too much damage.

To complete the day we took a bus to Mosta only to find that we had the wrong one so we took another back. The Mosta parish church is a huge rotunda based on the Pantheon in Rome built from 1833-60 from local funds & the interior is quite beautiful if austere by local standards. It proudly displays a model of the WW2 bomb which penetrated the roof but luckily, didn't explode.

After that we gave up & returned to buy some wonderful bread & cheese for dinner with a bottle of local white.

Another hard day on the tourist trail.