John Edward Cooper’s Notes

DAY 3: Blue Grotto, Mosta Dome and Mdina B/L/D
Your full day tour today starts with a visit to the Blue Grotto – an area of sea caverns on Malta’s south coast with stunning views of the rugged coastline. Then visit Mosta to see its famous church with the third largest unsupported dome in Europe. Next move on to the ‘silent’ city of Mdina, whose quiet narrow streets, grand buildings and palaces are protected by impressive ramparts with majestic views of the surroundings.

Revised itinerary


…We got the elevator down without difficulty this time when we went down to breakfast together. The corn flakes, though puffy looking, tasted like corn flakes and were quite palatable. The “Americano” tasted a bit weak, so if I’d had a white coffee I’d have probably abandoned it. As it was I drank it.… We were back down in the lobby at 8.55am. Our trip today took us first to the Blue Grotto, where we opted to pay for a boat ride to visit the shallow sea caves. As we approached the south coast, Cynthia pointed out the islet Filfla, which supposedly means “a peppercorn”, the most southerly point of the Maltese archipelago. The minibus stooped in a parking place in the hamlet Wied Iż-Żurrieq, and we descended the hill on which it was built to a sea inlet just west of the hamlet to board boats.




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 09:51:34
Descending from Wied Iż-Żurrieq to board a boat


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 09:59:14
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 09:59:22
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:00:02
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:00:08
Cyanobacteria or “blue-green algae”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:00:14
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:00:46
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:01:34
Rock, supposedly resembling the nearby islet of Filfla


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:02:14
Blue, clear water


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:02:58
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:03:34
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:03:50
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:05:04
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:05:56
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:10:16
“Elephant’s foot” formation


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:10:30
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:11:54
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:12:06
Intense cobalt blue colour


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:12:52
Sea caverns “The Blue Grotto”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:19:46
Going back ashore at Wied Iż-Żurrieq

On the way back up to the minibus, we bought gelati at a shop; I had pistachio flavour. I had an espresso at the café by the parking place where the minibus was. It was very hot and sunny. From there we went to the former capital Mdina, and the coach dropped us off just outside the Mdina Gate. We crossed the trench by a bridge and entered the gate, then Cynthia conducted us through and round “The Silent City”, also known by the titles “Città Vecchia” and “Città Notabile”, pointing out features.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 10:45:40
The islet Filfla (“peppercorn”) seen from the minibus




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:10:50
Entering Mdina


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:11:28
Trench and De Redin Bastion to the left


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:12:38
Part of the fortifications and the Vilhena Palace to the right


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:12:54
Mdina Gate


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:14:30
Mdina Gate

On the other side of the gate was Pjazza San Publju, and we turned to the immediate right and entered the courtyard of the Palazzo Vilhena, rebuilt in 1726 by Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, whose tomb we saw yesterday in the Cathedral, and whose portrait was hanging in the Grand Master’s Palace.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:15:04
Mdina Gate, far side


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:15:14
Pjazza San Publju


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:15:24
Courtyard of the Palazzo Vilhena


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:16:46
Palazzo Vilhena


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:16:46 (detail)
Palazzo Vilhena


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:17:10
Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena

At the end of Pjazza San Publju we turned right and went along Triq Inguanez to the “Kunsill Lokali Mdina” (council chambers or town hall), also part of Palazzo Vilhena.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:23:56
Triq Inguanez


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:23:56 (detail)
Triq Inguanez




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:25:10
“Kunsill Lokali Mdina” (council chambers)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:27:10
“Kunsill Lokali Mdina”

Then we went through a number of alleys (our route through which I’ve since then failed to track on satellite images, e.g. in Google Maps) to Triq il Villegaignon, getting out of the way from time to time of the odd horse and carriage that came by.




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:29:58
“Misraħ il-Kunsill Città Notabile” (council square)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:31:42
Going along a number of alleys


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:31:56
Going along a number of alleys


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:33:24
Going along a number of alleys


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:34:32
Going along a number of alleys


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:34:48
Triq il Villegaignon


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:34:48 (detail)
Triq il Villegaignon


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:36:16
Triq il Villegaignon


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:37:56
Triq il Villegaignon

From there we went to St. Paul’s Square to look at the façade of the cathedral.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:38:12


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:42:08
St. Paul’s Cathedral

There’s a clock on the right tower and a calendar on the left.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:41:34
St. Paul’s Cathedral

Cynthia mentioned that this was the supposed site of where the Roman chief Publius lived. Returning to Triq il Villegaignon we stood near the Carmelite Priory and Church,—


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:46:44
Interesting door in Triq il Villegaignon


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:48:18
Carmelite Priory in Triq il Villegaignon


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:49:18
Madonna and Child on the corner of the Carmelite Priory Church

—then proceeded to the northernmost point, St. Mary’s Bastion,—


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:52:28
Bastion Square


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:54:58
Views from St. Mary’s Bastion


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:55:44
Views from St. Mary’s Bastion

—from where we could see the Rotunda of Mosta,[i] which we were to visit this afternoon,—

[i] From our position facing approximately north, the façade appears to face somewhat to our right, south-south-east according to Wikipedia, which means that the apse opposite faces north-north-west, approximately in the direction of Rome.

Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:56:26
Views from St. Mary’s Bastion: the Rotunda of Mosta

—and even, hazily, Valletta with the landmark dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 11:58:08
Views from St. Mary’s Bastion: Valletta

From there we went southwards, just within the western wall,—


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:00:12
St. Agatha Esplanade

—along Triq l-Imħażen (Magazines Street), so called because armaments and ammunition used to be stored in recesses in the wall.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:01:28
Triq l-Imħażen (Magazines Street)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:02:06
Entrance to a house to the left of Triq l-Imħażen


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:07:06
Triq l-Imħażen

At the end, we met the (approximately) southern wall, in which was a gate, Greeks Gate — or one might say, “tunnel”, for the walls were very thick.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:10:16
Wall by Greeks Gate


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:10:54
Greeks Gate, with painting masked by very reflective glass

Above the gate was a recess, in which there was a painting of St. Paul, very hard to see because it was covered with a sheet of very reflective Perspex (or Plexiglass or similar).


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:12:48
17th Century painting showing St. Paul baptising the Maltese

We emerged from the “tunnel”, which brought us out in the trench, where there was a vehicle park, and where indeed our minibus was waiting. We went through Rabat, past the imposing parish church, St. Paul’s. Cynthia told us of the catacombs in Rabat: the Catacombs of St. Paul, accessible from the church, where according to tradition Paul was imprisoned during his three months in Malta; and the Catacombs of St. Agatha. She told us about these in case anyone wanted to visit when we had free time tomorrow or Thursday.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:20:54
St. Paul’s Church, Rabat, seen from the minibus


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:21:12
St. Paul’s Church, Rabat, seen from the minibus


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:21:22
St. Paul’s Church, Rabat, seen from the minibus


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 12:21:30
St. Paul’s Church, Rabat, seen from the minibus

A policeman who was stopping traffic nevertheless let us through into the street on which was The Grapes restaurant, where we had lunch. Cynthia had presented us with menu options on the way to Mdina and we’d indicated our choices with a show of hands: Janet and I had thick soup, bragioli (a thin slice of beef rolled around minced beef and bacon with egg to bind), and ice cream. I had an 18.75cl bottle of Maltese red wine. Our party was seated either side of a long table. Just behind me was a similar long table, so the seating became a bit cramped when another coach party arrived. And Janet hadn’t finished her bragioli when the waitress brought the ice cream, so it was clear that they wanted to be rid of us. We stopped at the site of an old RAF base at Ta’ Qali, where the base’s Nissen huts have been adapted for use as craft workshops. We visited one where silver filigree items were made.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 13:24:52
Silver filigree work, Ta’ Qali


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 13:25:56
Silver filigree work, Ta’ Qali


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 13:27:16
Silver filigree work, Ta’ Qali


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 13:44:42
Former RAF Nissen huts, now craft workshops, Ta’ Qali

We bought a Maltese cross as a souvenir. I couldn’t remember the PIN of my debit card, and I was a few euros short to pay in cash, till one of our party Frank lent me €5. Then there was a short trip to a glassware factory, but although the kilns were still fired (and it was hellish hot in the place) the people working there had gone home. The adjacent shop was still open, though.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:14:02
Glassware factory and shop


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:15:02
Glassware factory and shop


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:16:02
Glassware factory and shop


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:16:24
Glassware factory and shop


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:17:04
Glassware factory and shop

Janet had a sciatica spasm, but there was a shaded bench outside where we could sit. She blamed it, perhaps rightly, on the cramped seating on the minibus. We visited the Mosta Dome, a huge church reminiscent of the Pantheon in Rome. The original church was left in place while the rotunda was built around it, allowing the local people to have a place of worship till the new church was finished in the 1860s.




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:55:42
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (Rotunda of Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:56:18
Mary


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:56:46
Joseph and the infant Jesus

It too had a clock on its right tower and a calendar on its left.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:56:54
Clock

The calendar had Italian initial letters of the months, for if it had been Maltese, the “G” (“Gennaio”) for January would have been “J” (“Jannar”). All the other initial letters are the same in Italian and Maltese.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 14:57:22
Calendar, with Italian initial letters of the months


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:05:20
Processional statue

We visited the sacristy, in which we saw the same type of bomb that pierced the dome on 9 April 1942 in an afternoon Luftwaffe air-raid and fell among a congregation of more than 300 people awaiting early evening mass but failed to explode: “Il-Miraklu tal-Bomba” (“The Bomb Miracle”). (The original bomb was defused and thrown into the sea.)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:09:36
Entering the sacristy


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:09:50
Notice by the sacristy door


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:14:12
The same type of bomb as that which pierced the dome and fell without exploding on 9 April 1942
“IL-MIRAKLU TAL-BOMBA
9 TA’ APRIL 1942”

Beneath a crucifix in a niche at one end of the room there was a silver chest with a depiction in low relief of what looks like St. Paul and the others coming ashore from the shipwreck. Of the 276 of them on board, all of whom survived, only eight or nine are shown.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:11:36
Sacristy


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:12:38
Sacristy


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:15:28
Silver chest in the sacristy showing Paul and the survivors of the shipwreck


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:15:28 (edited)
Silver chest in the sacristy showing Paul and the survivors of the shipwreck

Cynthia pointed out to me one of the small chapels off the rotunda, which was dedicated to St. Paul.




Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:21:48
Chapel dedicated to St. Paul, with a depiction of the conversion of Saul; “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:22:06
Chapel dedicated to St. Paul


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:22:26
The healing of Publius’ father (Acts 28:8)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:22:26 (edited)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:22:50
The martyrdom of St. Paul


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:22:50 (edited)
The martyrdom of St. Paul


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:23:12
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:23:22
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:23:30
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:24:00
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta): dome


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:24:18
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta): lantern of the dome


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:28:00
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:28:16
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:29:12
Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mosta)

Janet was troubled again by a spasm of sciatica and had to sit down. I took photographs of the statues of saints within the front colonnade and outside.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:29:50
Portico, lower tier: St. Simon

Because there was a statue of St. Peter outside the church, “St. Simon” here must refer to “Simon who was called the Zealot” in the Biblical lists of the twelve apostles.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:30:02
Portico, lower tier: St. Bartholomew


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:30:14
Portico, lower tier: St. James the Less

The Biblical lists of the twelve apostles refer to “James son of Alphaeus”, who is usually identified with “James the Less” or “younger” in Mark 15:40.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:30:32
Portico, lower tier: St. Philip


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:30:48
Portico, lower tier: St. Matthew


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:31:04
Portico, lower tier: St. Thaddaeus


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:38:28
In front, left: St. Peter

Then I noticed an upper row of saints in the colonnade.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:38:50
Portico, upper tier: St. John


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:39:02
Portico, upper tier: St. Andrew


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:39:18
Portico, upper tier: St. James


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:39:32
Portico, upper tier: St. Thomas

The only one from the Biblical lists of the twelve apostles missing was Judas Iscariot, for obvious reasons. And St. Paul, “as… one untimely born”, was added.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 15:39:54
In front, right: St. Paul

Though cathedral-like in dimensions the Rotunda of Mosta functions merely as the parish church. There was a similarly imposing “parish church” that we passed in the adjacent town that we passed through, Naxxar. After we’d been to our hotel room, we went out and used the ATM at the almost adjacent branch of the Bank of Valletta (BOV) to get €100, then bought some water, etc., at Scott’s supermarket (“16:36:27” on the till receipt), and then went up to Frank and Patsy’s room to pay back the €5 we owed.… We went to the bar. I ordered a Campari and soda for me and a non-alcoholic cocktail for Janet. I was going to put it on the hotel account, but the barman told me that to get it at half price it had to be in cash, so I went back to the room for money. That made drinking it a bit rushed, for it was time to go to dinner. Under the curving open staircase leading to the first-floor restaurant there was a grand piano that was playing itself! It sounded also as though there were other instrumentalists and a singer trapped inside it. Afterwards we went back to the room and ca.7.30pm went out again. We headed north to where the road and promenade begin to turn left, just beyond the “Fortizza”. On the flat, wide rocky shelf below the promenade there was a beach party going on, but it was too dark and distant for me to get a photograph. We went back southwards.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:01:48
Fortizza, Sliema


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:02:38
Fortizza, Sliema

One or two were smoking hookahs in the outdoor part of the Fortizza bar.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:03:28
Hookah in the Fortizza bar, Sliema


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:06:02
Our hotel, the Preluna, Sliema


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:07:56
The moon, not quite at first quarter


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:09:26
View south


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:09:26 (detail)
Colonnade, with graffiti-style paintings on the back wall

Farther along the promenade was a group of nuns in a semicircle holding a service in Maltese: “Sliema għalik, Marija…” We sat nearby for a while. It was both uplifting and disturbing: uplifting, because it was a witness of God to the thoughtless crowds going to and fro; a tad disturbing, because the cult of the Mother of God was so overwhelming that I wondered whether Jesus ever really got a look in!


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:10:52
Nuns holding an open-air service

Before we crossed the road to the hotel we went to Mason’s Café, where I had a “digestivo”: my first taste of Grappa — two, in fact. I also had an espresso.


Saturday 19 September 2015 — 20:41:08
In Mason’s Café, across the road from the Preluna hotel

… We went to bed ca.10.45pm.

[Sunday 20 September 2015]