We’re garden people and so we love going to various types of gardens. Today’s garden is a palace garden. After studying the bus route map, we planned our route, packed a picnic lunch, and set off for our visit to San Anton Gardens.
We started on the #13 bus. That bus is always so crowded. We had to wait for another bus because the first was jammed. When we did board, the driver keep yelling, “move back, move back,” until we were packed in like sardines. My route plan was to get off at a stop named Kullegg and wait for the #54 bus to Attard, but I got nervous that maybe I had misread the bus route for the #54, so we decided to stay on the bus all the way to Valletta and get on the #54 at the start of its route. We probably would be guaranteed a seat if we did that.
The Valletta bus terminus is a crazy place. There are something like 360 buses and 90 different routes. The Malta Public Transport system employs over 1,300 people. There are 3 sectors, A, B, C, at the terminus with several different bus bays. So, you’ve got to know your bus number and its associated bay letter and number. Routes and schedules are all online, so you can figure that all out pretty easily once you understand how their website works.
It looks so chaotic at the terminus, but it actually seems very well organized. We’re getting things figured out, but one thing we know. Often, to catch your next bus you need to run like mad to the next bus bay, which could be some distance a way. There are always people running at the bus terminus, some of them are quite elderly. But if you miss your next bus, the wait is probably, at longest, 30 minutes, and often just 15-20 minutes.
We took the bus to Attard, the town where San Anton Palace and gardens are located. While walking to the entrance to the gardens, we passed by another Corinthia Hotel (the other was at St. George’s Bay). This one is called the Corinthia Palace Hotel and Spa, and apparently is a 5-star hotel. It looked like the San Anton Palace, and also had a nice garden around much of the hotel. So we got a preview of what we would see across the street at San Anton.
The Palace of San Anton was once the country house of a wealthy knight of the Order of St. John. This knight, Fra Antoine de Paule, was apparently quite an entertainer and he held lavish dinners at his country home. But the palace was also his private retreat and he built it to include private gardens, citrus groves, fountains, statues and other things. His palace and grounds were luxurious. It was built during the last quarter of the 17th century.
Over the centuries, the palace has been used by various officials. It eventually became the residence of the British governor over Malta and in 1882, the governor at the time decided to open much of the palace gardens to the public. And so San Anton Gardens has become a much-beloved place and is a wonderful place for families and tourists to stroll and take in the beauty of a lovely formal garden. Today, San Anton Palace is the official residence of the Maltese president, who currently is Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. She was elected in 2014. Interestingly, as constitutional head of state, the president is appointed by the Maltese House of Representatives for a 5-year term. The president then appoints the Prime Minister, who is sort of like the chief executive officer. So, the top 2 people running the government are not elected by the people.
San Anton Gardens is a formal garden laid out in a grid pattern. It has lots of palm and tree varieties and rows and rows of plantings of spring flowers. There are also many citrus groves. And of course, there are fountains and statues.
We really appreciated all the spring blooming flowers because we’re missing our own garden, especially as things pop up out of the ground and begin to bloom.
The little ponds and fountains around the gardens were nice and the ducks and swans were a real attraction for the kids running around the gardens.
Here are more photos of the gardens.
San Anton Palace, the presidential residence, bordered the public part of the gardens. I was amazed at how little security there seemed. We only saw 3 guards the whole time we wandered around the outside of the palace. The portico steps up to a courtyard within the palace were totally open. And from that courtyard was an entrance right into the presidential residence part of the palace. I can only assume that the president wasn’t in residence when we were there.
It’s called a palace, but it isn’t what one generally thinks of as palatial. This is a 17th century house made of limestone and is pretty unadorned on the outside. There are several internal private gardens and courtyards that are not open to the public. We looked through a little peephole to see one beautiful private garden. As we walked through the courtyard that was open, one does get the feeling of how old this building is and what it might have been like when the Knights lived here.
We found a real treasure when we walked through the courtyard. Off to the right, without any big signage, was the San Anton Palace Chapel. Designed by General Sir George Whitmore, the 19th century chapel was constructed for Protestant worship. When Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred Ernest Albert was stationed in Malta with his wife Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, they took up residence at San Anton Palace, and the chapel was adapted for the religious requirements of the Grand Duchess, who was a Russian Orthodox Christian. Nowadays, Catholic mass is celebrated every Sunday at 9 a.m. This is a beautiful little chapel that was painstakingly restored in 2013. It is a very small chapel and is within a arched, rounded room. The entire space is beautifully painted.
As we were leaving the gardens and were outside the walls that surrounding the entire gardens and palace, we saw the president’s entrance to the property, officially called the President’s Driveway. Very unassuming!
We found where to catch a return bus and decided to stop at a health food store in Sliema. We stocked up on our vitamins and minerals and walked home, also stopping at the MeatandEats store on Dingli to pick up some other things we needed. Once home, we had thought about taking a swim because we were both hot, but once we sat down to rest, getting back up to suit up and go swimming seemed like too much effort. So we spent the evening at home relaxing.
Another lovely day out exploring wonderful Malta.
Love your description of this trip, and it jogged my memory a bit….where I lived was Balzan, and at first it was the Melita Hotel which was next to a garden of not such beauty, but still VERY nice. Palms and flowers and a peacock which would scram at night ! At the end of the garden was a “palace” too, with some connection to the days of the Knights of Malta, and in which some important person resided…..wonder if there are many of these places……hmmmm