Mosta.

We started our Sunday at the Mosta branch of our church. We were made to feel very welcome and enjoyed our time there. It was like a little bit of home. The Mission President was attending from Rome to reorganise the branch leadership. A young woman sat by me and it turns out she lived in Hungary for 3 years and is a friend of Kamilla whom we know. It's a small world.

In the very next block to where we attended our Sacrament meeting, the very well known Mosta Rotunda sits in all her glory. The Sanctuary Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady is the full name of the church but gets called the Mosta Rotunda or the Mosta Dome. It was built in 1860. During the Second World War the church was almost destroyed when, during an air raid, a 200kg bomb fell through the dome without exploding. All the 300 people attending morning mass were left unharmed. (Malta was bombed more than anywhere else during WW2.) On the 9th April, 1942 the detonator was removed and a replica is now on display inside the church as a famous tourist attraction. The design was based on the Pantheon in Rome and has the 3rd biggest unsupported dome in the world. As well as being a church it is a big tourist attraction and they have a self guided tour with an app to guide visitors through the building and also to the underground war shelters.

We meet up with Angela and Brian, Queenslanders who were part of our Italian tour group, for dinner tonight. They arrived in Valletta last night. It was fun meeting up them again and was a lovely way to spend our last evening in Malta.Baca selengkapnya