One day when we were waiting for a bus, we talked with a couple from Cornwall, UK. Of course, having been on our adventure to the filming location for Doc Martin in Cornwall, we had fun chatting with this couple about Cornwall. We also compared notes about where we have explored around Malta. They mentioned that they had walked to Valletta from Sliema. Well, Christine got interested in doing that, walking to Valletta. So, for our Sunday, we plotted out a route and decided what we’d like to see and do during the walk. And off we went.
We left the flat a little before 9:00, thinking that the earlier we started, we could avoid the heat of the afternoon. It was rather an overcast day and there was a forecast of thunderstorms for later in the afternoon. We initially planned to walk up over the hill in Sliema and down to Msida. However, about halfway down our plotted course to Msida, we looked left and saw Sliema Creek a couple of blocks down and decided to get off the street we were on, a somewhat busy, not very attractive street, and walk along the waterfront. This would lengthen our walk somewhat, but we were in no hurry.
We arrived at the waterfront just at the entrance to Manoel Island. But there is a nice park around the Manoel Island Yacht Marina, which is at the end of Sliema Creek. We then made our way through Ta’ Xbiex (pronounced Taj Beesh), a particular favorite area of ours. This is where the terrace street houses several embassies. There is the Royal Malta Yacht Marina there as you go around the little Ta’ Xbiex peninsula and a water polo club, which is a big sport here. You also get some nice views of Valletta and Manoel Island from Ta’ Xbiex.
Once around Ta’ Xbiex, you walk down along one side of Msida Marina to Msida at the end of Msida Creek. We walked past a large building labeled Whitehall and later learned that it housed the embassies of Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands. Near the end of the Msida Marina is Our Lady of Sultana Church. Every time we bus into Valletta, we pass this church and it is quite a beautiful church, and a landmark in Msida. Every Roman Catholic church here is outlined in light bulbs, as you’ll note in one of the close-ups. Feast days and their festas are big, big events in Malta, and on the parish feast days, the church is lit up and outlined by all these light bulbs. It’s really beautiful.
So having arrived in Msida, then you walk the entire length of Msida Marina again on the opposite side you just walked down. This is our bus to Valletta route, so it is very familiar to us. However, it is so interesting to walk along where the bus speeds by so you can actually take in what’s there. Along this side of the marina is a lovely park. There is a group here in Malta, the Environmental Landscaping Consortium, that is responsible for beautifying many areas around Malta. I’ve mentioned them before because this is the group that did the Valletta Green Festival infiorata, growing 80,000 plants from seed, and then transplanting the plants all over Malta after their display in the infiorata. So these little parks are delightful to walk through and enjoy.
Then we walked around the little Pieta peninsula to the other fork of Msida Creek. We had learned earlier that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip lived in a villa in Pieta when he was stationed here while in the Navy early in their marriage.
As we travel by bus around this area, we noted a road that went along the creek up to where we thought it would get us to the Grand Hotel Excelsior. This was where we headed. The Grand Hotel was to be our cappuccino destination. The road was at the base of the Floriana fortifications, huge bastions. Unfortunately, the road ended at a gated shipping area, so we had to detour back and then up a hill along the bastion walls. As we were heading up along the bastions, there were several gated tunnels into the bastions. I can only imagine that these were used as shelters and living quarters for people during the war.
As we were walking up this road, we came to a garden entrance. I was excited by this because I had seen on the map a green space labeled Msida Bastion Historic Garden. Today, however, while doing my research for this post, I found out that this wasn’t the Historic Garden, but rather a place called Sa Maison Garden. No matter, because Sa Maison Garden was wonderful.
Set in the fortifications overlooking Pieta and Marsamxett Harbor, the Sa Maison Garden is spread over five levels. On the highest vantage point is a Gardjola, the watch tower, which provides the perfect spot for enjoying 360 views of the harbor, bastions and gardens.
Originally, Sa Maison Garden was meant to be a shooting lodge, built by Chevalier Caille Maison in the mid 18th century. Lady Julia Lockwood resided there between 1842 and 1856, which earned the garden the name ‘il-Gnien Tal-Milorda’ (her Ladyship’s garden), before the Civil Government took over its maintenance until 1903. And, the terrific Environmental Landscaping Consortium now is responsible for maintaining the garden.
This garden was definitely a great find. It is set in between fortification walls and, as I mentioned, has 5 levels, each unique in terms of where they are positioned in the fortification walls. The walks in the areas between the walls was dark shade and very peaceful and quiet. The other levels had wonderful views out over Marsamxett Harbor. It was so much fun to wander around and discover things in the garden.
At one point, Sa Maison Gardens were used by various Regiments of the British Army as an observation and defense post for the port of Marsamxett. One can see several regimental crests engraved into the rock-face of the walls. There is also a model of a castle dedicated to the 2nd Battalion of the Essex Regiment which is carved in Maltese stone. You can also see the positioning of two cannon emplacements over the bastions.
The storm clouds became more threatening, and there were some drops of rain while we were in the garden, so we thought we’d better keep going, lest we get wet.
.
Fortunately, the storm clouds blew over soon. We walked up the rest of the hill into Floriana, where we saw several University of Malta buildings. We also passed by the Archbishop’s Curia. That building looked like it could have been a Knight’s Auberge. It was built in the mid-17th century, but it was a Jesuit retreat house originally.
We then stopped in front of St. Publius Church in Floriana. There is a long plaza there having these round things sticking up. I thought they looked like the bases where columns might have been placed, thinking maybe there was some kind of a portico or something down the plaza at one time. Come to find out, these were the tops of granaries that were dug into the stone below. Since the mid-1800s, these granaries were used for storing grain, similar to what we learned about in the silos at the Citadel in Gozo. During WWII, this stored grain meant survival for many.
We then walked down through the Mall of Floriana, which runs several blocks to the Triton Fountain near the Valletta bus terminus. There is some nice statuary and a fountain or two in the Mall. At the end of the Mall is the Independence Monument commemorating Malta’s independence from British rule in 1964.
We had some thoughts of going to the Phoenicia Hotel for cappuccino, but the entire, very large building is being totally renovated, so it was shrouded in a covering with many tall cranes overhead. Therefore, we veered down the hill to the Grand Hotel Excelsior, which is a 5-star hotel (like the Phoenicia is). On our way downhill, a karozzin came by. The driver stopped and jumped out and came over to us and gave us the hard sell. I thought Christine was going to accept, but I implored her to keep walking. To make that happen, I promised her a karozzin ride around Valletta on her birthday, which is June 24th.
We got to the Grand Hotel Excelsior. It sits well below the street level, and so you walk down about 6 levels of terraces, each beautifully landscaped. The hotel is about 9 years old and offers great views of Marsamxett Harbor. We entered the lobby and found our way down another several levels to the pool area and a Tiki bar, where by now, it was past lunchtime, so we ordered lunch, a Greek salad and a Chicken Caesar salad. We were both pooped, and so it was great to be relaxing in a nice environment. We practically had the place to ourselves, too.
We had great views across the harbor from the Tiki Bar. We had fun watching all the boats, especially the harbor cruise boats. I always waved to see who would wave back.
We had decided to take the Valletta-Sliema ferry back to Sliema after lunch. We thought maybe there would be a hotel exit down at the street level below to get closer to the ferry. A bellhop in the lobby pointed us to a doorway on the other side of the lobby and said to go through a door and down the stairs. That’s what we did, 6 flights of stairs, and that dumped us out right where we had lunch. We then learned you have to go out the main entrance of the hotel to the street and walk from there. So back up to the lobby, out the front door, up 6 flights of terraces to the street, and then down the hill around the bastions towards the ferry. Whew! But we had some great views along the street heading towards the ferry.
After going up and down and up and down along the street, we eventually made it to the ferry. It was a nice short ride across the harbor, 15 minutes as opposed to a 3-hour walk!
We opted to walk back to the flat, rather than waiting for a bus, so we went up Tower Road to the esplanade and slowly plodded back home. But, not before we made one final stop. Our cousin Louis had given us the address of where he lived as a child, and where they still own an apartment next door. So we made a quick detour down Gorg Borg Street. Ironically, where the Caruanas lived and own property now, we think, is right next door to the Airbnb place Eve will be checking in to on Saturday. So, Lou, here’s 48 and 49 Triq Sir Gorg Borg.
After that, we were finally made it home at about 4:00, hot and tired, with sore feet. But, we changed into our bathing suits and went across the street to the rocks. We took over a spot just as some people were departing. Being Sunday afternoon, the rocks were very crowded, so we were lucky to get a reasonable place. And into the cool waters of St. Julian’s Bay we went. It felt heavenly! Christine took off swimming down the bay towards Exile while I returned to the rocks to bask in the sun. I kept looking down the shoreline for her head, and I was getting worried about her because I couldn’t spot her. All of a sudden, Christine says hi from beside me. That really surprised me! She had come face-to-face with a jellyfish on her swim, which freaked her out, so she got out of the water at Exile Point and walked back to where I was. No wonder I couldn’t see her swimming.
We then had a quiet rest of the day at home, enjoying leftover paella from our St. Paul’s Bay dinner. I’ll bet we walked about 6 or 7 miles today and our feet are telling us that was too much. But we really enjoyed sauntering along drinking in all the beautiful sights. As I said, walking affords one the opportunity to experience more of the ambience and scenery of a place. And that made it a great day.