Valletta by legs

We explored the capital, Valletta, today, across the bay from Sliema. Feeling energetic, we walked around the bay, taking about an hour to get there, and started wandering from the southern end of the peninsular.

Valletta is a fortified city on a hilly peninsular, and is the second smallest European capital at just 610 square metres. Much of it was destroyed during the siege of Malta in 1942, when Malta faced 154 days and nights of continuous bombing.

We zig-zagged across the city, visiting numerous impressive buildings, garden, gates and fortifications, collecting 26 caches and walking 14km in the day. It's chalk and cheese compared to the modern high rises of Sliema, with narrow streets, a lot of steps and nowhere near the amount of cars.

Lunch was in the centre near the outdoor market. We stopped for afternoon tea on the walls overlooking the harbour, before walking around St Elmo's Fort at the end of the peninsular, and heading toward the ferry terminal for the quick trip home.

As we arrived at the ferry terminal, the large passenger ferry to Sliema had just left, so instead of waiting half an hour for the next one, we headed towards the private water taxi rank and the spruiking "Yes, Sliema by boat", and for just 50 cents more (3 Euro) caught the next 6 person boat back to Sliema.

We had dinner of soup and quesadillas on the way back to our hotel.Read more