Malta
A warm but windy day as we docked in Valleta, Malta; a country on its own. Sailing into the port, the city looks like an old crusader's walled fortress. Which it was at one time.
Our excursion today was more driving than walking. We rode through numerous neighborhoods on the island. Many had a Middle Eastern flavor to them, reflecting the early Moslem occupation. Today less than 4% of the population is something other than Catholic, although there is a mosque and a synagogue (Chabad) on Malta., neither of which did we see.
Which brought us to the town of Mosta, home of the church with the third largest rotunda in Europe. It is impressive. It is made even more impressive by the fact that during World War II a 500 kg German bomb dropped through the roof of the church. It bounced off a wall with an image of Jesus and fell to the floor, and it never exploded. No one was injured. The town attributed it to the image of Jesus giving salvation. The church was later blessed by the reigning Pope.
On the day we visited that church there was a large, if not loud, festival of some sort in the plaza. We moved on to visit a glass factory and were able to watch a glass blower at work. She was quite good.
The fortress city of Valleta, Malta.
This fortress is actually generationally owned by a family. Currently 99 people reside within.
We visited a glass factory. This particular piece of art consists of 2000 hand blown glass balls, ranging in diameter from 2 feet to 2 inches.
This is the church that houses the dome mentioned in the notes above.
This is the dome. Note its size relative to the seating beneath it.
The arrow in the photo marks the spot where the bomb fell through, bounced off of a wall and crashed to the floor, never exploding.
