Malta - Day Two

The End of the Peninsula

Looking northwest from the eastern tip of the peninsula.

At the very tip of Valletta's peninsula, we found a museum of Malta's history and accomplishments in World War II. This, the second and more recent of the great sieges the island has survived, was not so much a classical siege of walls and fortifications as an attempt to cut off and bomb out the people and the garrison of Malta.

Malta in World War II

The flag of Malta. With George Cross. I think you can find it. Photo courtesy CIA World Factbook https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/flags/mt-flag.html

For Malta, the war started the morning of June 11, 1940, one day after Italy declared war on the Allies. In the early hours of the day, Italian bombers were sent to Malta to begin the process of bombing it into submission. Italian and German bombers continued the onslaught for about three years and Malta was beaten and battered by bombs that wrecked large portions of the island.

The destruction was vast and deaths were frequent, but the Maltese held on with stubborn grit until the bombed and battered tanker U.S.S. Ohio limped into port with fuel to help the Malta-based fighter planes shoot down some bombers. This feat of tenacious resolve in the face of overwhelming force led King George to bestow the George Cross -- Britain's highest civilian award -- upon the entire population of Malta. The Maltese were and are deservedly proud of this achievement, as shown by the image of the George Cross that can be seen on their national flag.

The arrival of the Ohio on August 15, 1942 is generally considered the point when the siege of Malta was broken, though it was really more of a case of Malta not being on the edge of starvation and destruction rather than an end to things blowing up.

The George Cross and certificate of authenticity.

It is worth noting, by the way, that the demolition of the island by German and Italian bombers is actually one of the primary causes for Chris and I ending up on the island -- as described earlier. However, I feel safe in assuming that our arrival there is not the pinnacle of Maltese history and, therefore, good things coming out of bad is not the moral of the story. It's really more of a story of, um, things happening because of other things. Isn't it a small/crazy/unfair/man's/wonderful world?

Anyway, the museum was in an old bunker used during World War II and it had a lot of World War II stuff. Nothing too large, but it was an interesting little collection of smaller vehicles and weapons. And they had a George Cross there with related documents. Yes they're the real ones. I looked it up.

What We Didn't See in Malta

After our stop in the museum, we attempted to see Fort St. Elmo; but that is impossible now, due to the fact that it has been converted into a police academy. It also looked like it was running some sort of junior high drill squad in one of the courtyards we could see from the street, but we did not investigate further. Instead, we travelled along the farthest fringes of the peninsula before we ran into our first annoying Maltese person.

Allow me to explain three things that I particularly liked about Malta during our stay there: the buskers, the beggars and the winos. In fact, of all the places I've been, Malta had, by far, the best buskers, beggars and winos. Why is that? Because all the buskers, beggars and winos were someplace else. Where? I don't care. All I know is, this was the first tourist destination I have ever visited where I was not routinely asked for change in some manner. There was nobody there juggling on a unicycle, standing in one position while painted silver, or tap dancing with bottle caps taped to their shoes. There was nobody playing the blues guitar or the bagpipes or a harmonica with a hat on the ground in front of them. Nor was there anyone lying on the ground under a pile of blankets rattling a change-filled McDonald's cup. Yes, I know you gotta eat, but that doesn't mean I gotta like you.

By the way, do the Maltese get the blues? Divorce is illegal in Malta (no kidding), so how often does a Maltese man's woman do him wrong? Does this affect the do-wronging percentages, or does it only affect his desire to pick up a guitar and expound upon his marital difficulties?

With that said, I was rather enjoying the lack of people attempting, either actively or passively, to part me from my cash. In fact, there was even a stark dearth of souvenir shops compared to most places I have visited. Thus, it was with great disappointment that we came across a carriage driver who was quite insistent that he should take us for a ride. We walked away and said, "No thanks," but he just kept insisting that his carriage was the way to see the city. It was one of the rare occasions when we were actually annoyed by a Maltese person. Fortunately, we finally put enough distance between ourselves and the carriage driver to find ourselves lost again.

In Search of Something to See

For those who are not familiar with the way in which I visit new cities, I tend to pick a general direction or route, see what's in that direction or along that route for a while, then figure out where I am once I discover that I'm lost. Chris was surprisingly amenable to this method and it did not seem to put a strain on our marriage. Or at least not one that Chris let me know about at the time.

What is this? Why do I have a picture of it?

We continued our tour of Valletta by skirting the southern edge of its peninsula as it looked out over another harbor. The wind was blowing briskly that day, so the sights on this edge of the city did not hold much allure for us. So, when the peninsula began to widen, we took the opportunity to head inland away from the sea breezes.

As we found ourselves heading down a street that seemed to burrow under some tall buildings, we decided we should head back toward the center of Valletta in order to get our bearings and dinner. So, we took a quick right turn up a stairway that looked like a street, then we discovered another of the sights of Valletta: St. Paul's Shipwreck Church.