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| The Grandma is walking across Valetta streets |
The Grandma has just arrived to La Valetta after saying goodbye, only for few days, to The Jones and The Beans.
She has an appointment with Paqui Bean and Silvia and Michelle Jones in a month and she doesn't forget this date.
Meanwhile, The Grandma has decided to travel to Malta to search Corto Maltese, his great lover, and she's waiting for the arrival of some friends who are going to help her in this searching: Claire Fontaine, Tina Picotes and Joseph de Ca'th Lon. It's better staying surrounded by friends when you're doing something special.
The Grandma loves Malta and she is taking profit of this travel to visit the island again and enjoy one of the most beautiful places around the world.
More information: Visit Malta
Valletta is the capital city of Malta, colloquially known as Il-Belt, The City, in Maltese. Geographically, it is located in the South Eastern Region, in the central-eastern portion of the main island of Malta having its western coast with access to the Marsamxett Harbour and its eastern coast in the Grand Harbour.
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| The Grandma is walking across Valletta streets |
The historical city has a population of 6,444, while the metropolitan area around it has a population of 393,938. Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe and the second southernmost capital of the European Union after Nicosia.
Valletta contains buildings from the 16th century onwards, built during the rule of the Order of St. John also known as Knights Hospitaller. The city is essentially Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture in selected areas, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House.
The City of Valletta was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.
More information: UNESCO
The official name given by the Order of Saint John was Humilissima Civitas Valletta—The Most Humble City of Valletta, or Città Umilissima in Italian. The city's fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches, led the ruling houses of Europe to give the city its nickname Superbissima—Most Proud.
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| The Grandma is arriving at home in Valetta |
The peninsula was previously called Xaghret Mewwija. Mewwija refers to a sheltered place. The extreme end of the peninsula names Xebb ir-Ras of which name origins from the lighthouse on site. A family which surely owned land became known as Sceberras, now a Maltese surname as Sciberras. At one point the entire peninsula became known as Sceberras.
From 1566 to 1798 the Island was under The Order of Saint John. In 1798, the Order left the islands and the French occupation of Malta began. After the Maltese rebelled, French troops continued to occupy Valletta and the surrounding harbour area, until they capitulated to the British in September 1800.
More information: The French Occupation-Visit Malta
In the early 19th century, the British Civil Commissioner, Henry Pigot, agreed to demolish the majority of the city's fortifications. The demolition was again proposed in the 1870s and 1880s, but it was never carried out and the fortifications have survived largely intact.
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| The Grandma in a Maltese-style balcony, Valletta |
Eventually building projects in Valletta resumed under British rule. These projects included widening gates, demolishing and rebuilding structures, widening newer houses over the years, and installing civic projects.
The Malta Railway, which linked Valletta to Mdina, was officially opened in 1883. It was closed down in 1931 after buses became a popular means of transport.
In 1939, Valletta was abandoned as the headquarters of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet due to its proximity to Italy and the city became a flashpoint during the subsequent two-year long Siege of Malta.
German and Italian air raids throughout the Second World War caused much destruction in Valletta and the rest of the harbour area. The Royal Opera House, constructed at the city entrance in the 19th century, was one of the buildings lost to the raids.
More information: World War II-Visit Malta
The entire city of Valletta has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, along with Megalithic Temples of Malta and the Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni.
The architecture of Valletta's streets and piazzas ranges from mid-16th century Baroque to Modernism. Buildings of historic importance include St John's Co-Cathedral, formerly the Conventual Church of the Knights of Malta. It has the only signed work and largest painting by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.
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| The Grandma is walking to the harbour, Valleta |
The Auberge de Castille et Leon, formerly the official seat of the Knights of Malta of the Langue of Castille, Léon and Portugal, is now the office of the Prime Minister of Malta.
The Grandmaster's Palace, built between 1571 and 1574 and formerly the seat of the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, used to house the Maltese Parliament, now situated in a purpose-built structure at the entrance to the city, and now houses the offices of the President of Malta.
The National Museum of Fine Arts is a Rococo palace dating back to the late 1570s, which served as the official residence of the Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet during the British era from the 1820s onwards. The Manoel Theatre was constructed in just ten months in 1731, by order of Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena, and is one of the oldest working theatres in Europe.
More information: Daily Mail
The Mediterranean Conference Centre was formerly the Sacra Infermeria. Built in 1574, it was one of Europe's most renowned hospitals during the Renaissance. The fortifications of the port, built by the Knights as a magnificent series of bastions, demi-bastions, cavaliers and curtains, approximately 100 metres high, all contribute to the unique architectural quality of the city.
More information: City of Valletta
Min jistenna jithenna.
He who waits is rewarded.
Maltese Proverb
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