Day 1

Malta - Day Two

The State Rooms

First hallway upon entering the State Rooms.

Note all the stuff in it.

From the Manoel, we headed down the street to the Grandmaster's palace and the choice of either visiting the State Rooms or the Armory. As things closed up at 4:00 there, we opted for the State Rooms, since I'd seem some pictures and thought it a good spot to visit. It did not disappoint.

The State Rooms are, from what I can tell, still in use by the Maltese Government. It's not hard to see why they would want to do so. From the moment you walk upstairs, you are taken away into the heraldic past that began with the Knights of St. John.

Any guidebook of Malta will show a picture running down one of the hallways that is decorated with old suits of armor and portraits of the old Grandmasters. There are a few hallways that fit this description and I found myself taking a few of these pictures for my own. The ceilings of these hallways are painted lavishly and the floors are inlaid with the coat-of-arms of each Grandmaster, beginning in 1565. Each ornate embellishment was an exploration all its own and it was sometimes difficult to keep the tour moving.

Coats-of-arms of former Grandmasters. I think the one on the right is Grandmaster Flash.

Rooms were plush and warm even as they retained a dignified air of refined detachment. It is a stately and venerable palace where a knight would feel the honor of his position as a member of a brotherhood of gentlemen. It would be hard not to feel important when you were meeting in one of these rooms. And it is not hard to imagine how people familiar with the building would refer to the different rooms. See the pictures to understand what I mean.

Really, there is not much I can say about the place that cannot be stated more eloquently through photographs. So perhaps we should let them do some talking.

The Red Room

The Yellow Room

We were also able to visit one room that I assume is used by the Maltese Parliament, as it was set up exactly like that of the British Parliament. I'd love to show you a picture of it, but it was the one room in the building where we were not allowed to take pictures. This is a further reason why I think that government happens in the particular room -- government types tend to be rather security-conscious these days.

Besides which, the room was not lit by the conveniently placed chandelier located in other rooms, so it would have been a loss to try to take a non-blurry picture even if I felt like getting kicked out of Malta's Parliament.

As we exited the State Rooms, we happened upon a gift shop where we decided it was a good opportunity to pick up some additional literature for our trip. Chris decided on an additional guidebook that looked to have some good information and I picked up a map that looked good for figuring out bus routes.

Both of us rued our selections soon enough. The book told us nothing we didn't already know and the map actually told us less. But now they're souvenirs, so I guess we're stuck with them for a while. And the map we need to keep just so I can remind myself of why I hated it so much.

The Blue-Green Room. Or it could be the Blue Room. Or the Green Room. We called it the Clock Room, but it's hard to tell why from this picture.

The Armory was closed by the time we left the State Rooms, so we opted to head for St. John's Co-Cathedral, which was the other definite sight for our trip into Valletta. Unfortunately, there was only 30 minutes until the cathedral closed, which the man at the desk informed us was not really enough time to see it. So we exited the Co-Cathedral and decided to head up to the end of the peninsula to see what was there.

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Malta - Day Two