Today we took the scooter back to Valletta. We had lunch in a small café in what seemed to be the heart of downtown. The café had a food menu and a separate multi-page hot chocolate menu featuring flavors such as meringue, caramel, strawberry, banana, peach, whisky, hazelnut, white chocolate, pistachio, and more. We couldn’t resist, we had to try one of these gourmet hot chocolates, so Christi ordered one. What came out was not flavored milk, this was truly hot chocolate. It was thick and rich, the same texture as hot fudge sauce. We are guessing it probably is made just like hot fudge except using milk instead of butter. Eric got another beverage off the specialty drink menu, vanilla Italian crème. It was also a very thick, hot liquid, and tasted similar to crème brulee.

After lunch, we headed over to The Barrakka Upper Gardens. As far as the garden part goes, it was nice, but not impressive. There are more concrete walkways than garden, so while the plants are beautiful, there simply aren’t a lot of them. What is impressive, though, is the fabulous views of Grand Harbor. It is the best viewpoint we have seen yet in Malta, and there are fabulous views everywhere. In the first shot, you can barely see the marina in the left finger. The second shot is of the harbor entrance.

From there we went to the Grand Master’s palace, the residence of the head of the knights back in the day. Now it is the parliament building. There are actually two museums housed here, one which holds an armory and the other that shows part of the dwelling in all its glory. The exterior is rather plain, like the exterior of the co-cathedral.

We went to the armory first. The interior is totally plain, with all the décor being weaponry the knights used to use. One room featured all kinds of armor. It detailed armor styles and trends over time. We hadn’t realized there were so many different varieties of armor. For body wear you could choose from sheaths made of small metal ringlets, or small metal discs that overlapped one another, or small metal bars riveted onto a strong piece of cloth, or solid metal custom shaped to fit your body with interesting joint systems for arm and knee bending and such. Then there was the array of helmets and face guards. You could go with full head, face and neck or full head/partial face and/or neck. And of course, there were lots of clever designs for keeping them on and being able to see and breathe with them on. There was a whole display on shields, too.

Something that we have neglected to mention about the Knights Hospitalier is that to be accepted into this prestigious organization, you had to from a noble family. So, most of the Knights had money and one of the ways their wealth was flaunted was by buying super expensive armor. The most fashionable knights had matching body and head armor, along with matching shield, all with ornate designs imbedded into the metal, and, of course, created by top designers. It’s funny to think how important wearing the latest hip styles by the top fashion gurus was back then, even in battle wear. And, it is also a wonder to think that they could really do hand to hand combat in these tin cans where it had to be hard to see, breathe and move.

The second room was stocked with weapons, and detailed the evolution of weapons over time. The whole gamut was there: cross bows, lances with all kinds of points, swords, rapiers, canons (including mini canons), bayonets, muskets, flintlocks, guns, etc. We had no idea there were so many types of heads for lances. They have blades of all shapes and sizes sticking out at all angles, usually 4 or 5 or more blades on one head. After seeing them all and reading what each head can do to your foe, we have a new respect for the brutality of that tool. Much more brutal than what you see in the movies, that is for sure.

After we were done in the armory, we headed upstairs to the old living quarters. It was ridiculously opulent, as we had expected. One hall and four rooms were open for display. The hall had an intricately painted ceiling, support beams and arches. The floors were all colored marble featuring elaborate designs. The walls featured portraits of the various grand masters, all in the dark colors that were popular in renaissance and baroque era portraits. The hall was lined with full armor. Very baroque.

One room was filled with tapestries depicting animals from various parts of the world. The worker who makes sure you don’t touch anything or snap pictures told us that artists had been commissioned to go to far off places to paint these animals, then the paintings were copied into these tapestries. The tapestries were enormous.

The next room was plain and modern, featuring portraits of English royalty, gold furniture and a giant chandelier. The next three rooms were all similar. The most noted feature of them all was that the walls, drapes, and furniture all used the same upholstery. The furniture and drapes kind of vanished into the walls because they were all the same. Each room had an elaborate border painted around the top portion of the wall, where it meets the ceiling, a carved and painted ceiling, some big paintings, and wooden furniture.

Once we left the palace, we stopped for a snack from a bakery. We tried a Maltan classic, a light pastry with cottage cheese baked in the center. You can also get peas in the center, instead. We forget what they are called, but they are tasty.

We headed for the last stop on the tourist trail for the day, St. John’s Shipwreck Chapel. The church was begun in 1639 and it took 101 years to complete. The layout is similar to the Co-Cathedral, with the main area and the small side chapel nooks. It is decorated in the same over the top baroque style that the Co-Cathedral is. The floors feature the same colorful and decorative marble tombs. The walls are not nearly as ostentatious. There is more colored marble and less decorative golden carvings, but they make up for the walls by having more paintings and sculptures on display than in the Co-Cathedral sanctuary. The ceiling also has more painting. The ceiling has lots of domes. There is a dome for each little side chapel, as well as domes in the main part of the sanctuary. They also let us go into the basement area, which was cool and damp. This is another church where the value of the art is staggering. Many of the pieces are by big name artists. Like the Co-Cathedral, they also have a bone on display: St. John’s wrist bone.

After we were done at the church, we headed back to Kosmos. When we got hungry for dinner, we went out in search of food. We wandered the streets of Vittoriosa. The Normans favored very narrow, curved streets, and sharply angled intersections. They didn’t want anyone to have a line of sight any farther than an arrow could be thrown. You could actually feel the history oozing from the tiny lanes as we walked through them, almost see the soldiers pressed up against a wall with arrow in hand, waiting to pounce on an invader trying to sneak into their city. We love it there.

We commented in other places that we wondered if people really lived on these old buildings where cars have no access. Because it was so roasting hot outside, many people had their doors open. We peeked into living room after old fashioned living room and we can attest that people definitely actively live in the buildings of Vittoriosa. It looks like all the units are occupied, too.

Unfortunately, our food search was in vain. No real restaurants were open. In Greece and Turkey, we had no problems finding open stores and restaurants. But in Italy and Malta, we have had a heck of a time finding things open. It seems like stores open for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon a couple times a week, and that is all. We are probably grossly exaggerating the hours (or lack thereof), but it seems like we will go to the same place several times and they will always be closed. Restaurant hours seem to be just as elusive. Lunch lasts the blink of an eye, and dinner usually doesn’t start until 2000, and they aren’t necessarily open every day. Being Americans, we get hungry more like 1800. In Italy and now in Malta, we have wound up eating in a lot of places called “snacks” or “bars” or “cafes” — places that offer beverages and a limited menu featuring simple food like sandwiches or crepes or pizza (but usually not all three). We don’t mind the light fare most of the time, but the lack of variety on snack menus gets old. Tonight we wanted real food before 2000, so we went back to Kosmos and made some.

We were surprised later in the evening by a fairly short rain storm. Good, maybe now the heat will break.