| Morning Tour of Valetta |
3.5 - 4 hours |
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You will be met in your hotel lobby and escorted to your coach for a drive to the city of Valletta, built after the Great Siege of 1565.
Your tour starts with a guided walk to the Upper Barracca Gardens which boast 180 degree views of the Grand Harbor and the famed 3 cities.
Continue along the characteristic straight and narrow streets down to the Co-Cathedral of St. John. In the Cathedral you are able to visit the Cathedral Museum, which among other items of interest boasts one of Caravaggio's paintings "The beheading of St John".
You will then proceed to the Grand Master's Palace and it's Armoury. The tour ends with a visit to the Mediterranean Conference Center to view the 45 minute audio-visual, multivision - Malta Experience Show.
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The Sacra Infermeria
The extensive edifice of the Sacra Infermeria (Holy Infirmary) occupies a large site which overlooks the Grand Harbour, very near Fort St. Elmo. This hospital, one of the first buildings of Valletta, started to function in 1574 under Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere. Originally, it consisted of a large ward. Under the rule of Grand Master Nicholas Cottoner (1663 - 80), the hall was enlarged; and in 1712 Grand Master Perellos commissioned a new building alongside Merchants Street, which included a chapel and a pharmacy.
The infirmary provided about 900 beds for male patients who included knights, soldiers, sailors and foreigners. Maltese patients and slaves were accommodated in another large hall below the Main Ward. In 1676, a school of anatomy and surgery was set up in the building.
The administration of the Sacra Infermeria was entrusted to knights of the French Langue, under the headship of the Grand Hospitaller. When the Knights were forced to leave the Island in 1798, Napoleons’ troops used the hospital for their own personnel. The British, who took over Malta’s government in 1800, renamed the Infirmary ‘Station Hospital’, and used it as such until the end of the First World War.
In 1920, the building was used as the Police Headquarters until the outbreak of World War II, when the police had to evacuate the building which was badly damaged by air raids.
Reconstruction and conversion started in earnest in 1977, and in February 1979, the grand old edifice was inaugurated as a first-class Conference Centre. It now consists of the main conference room which accommodates about 1,400 persons, and five other halls of varying sizes, all equipped with facilities for simultaneous translation. The complex has been renamed ‘The Mediterranean Conference Centre’.
What used to be the main hospital ward, measuring 151 metres, is now used as "the lobby" when conferences are in session. The Lower Ward houses a restaurant with a capacity of 1,000 covers. Several offices, staff and rest rooms and a cafeteria are also provided.
Early in 1987, a fire totally destroyed the Main Conference Room and other parts of the complex. These have now been reconstructed, and in 1990 the Centre was re-opened for conferences and conventions.
St. John's Cathedral
This splendid Church was built between 1573 and 1577 during the reign of Grand Master Jean de la Cassiere. St. John’s, which was the Order’s conventual church, was accorded Co-Cathedral status (the main Cathedral being the one at Mdina) by Pope Pius VII, in 1816.
The exterior of the Church is rather austere, but the interior is a blaze of baroque architecture and sculpture. The massive vault is painted by Mattia Preti, illustrating episodes from the life of St. John the Baptist. The spacious nave is flanked on either side by the chapels of the various Langues of the Order. The Chapels are decorated with sumptuous monuments of the Grand Masters and with precious works of art.
Both the church and its oratory are paved with marble tomb-stones, under which lie the remains of the knights. There are altogether 364 slabs, all of which bear Latin inscriptions exalting the merits and deeds of the Knights of the Order.
The Oratory, which forms part of the Church, is noted for Caravaggio’s masterpiece ‘The Beheading of St. John‘. Another excellent Caravaggio painting, ‘St. Jerome’, can be seen at the Chapel of Italy inside the Church.
The Cathedral Museum contains priceless works of arts, ancient hymn books, sacred vestments and the famous Flemish Tapestries. Until recently, the tapestries were hung in the Cathedral nave on special festivities; the last occasion being the Pope’s visit in May 1990. At present, the tapestries are on display inside the Museum.
A number of booklet and other specialised publications are on sale at the Cathedral gift shop. These give details of the history and the art treasures of this unique monument. Entrance is from Merchants Street.
| type: | Churches and Cathedrals |
| Tarxien Prehistoric Temples and The Blue Grotto |
8 hours |
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Drive to the south of the island with the Tarxien Prehistoric Temples as the first stop.
This unique group of temples, dating from 3150 to 2500 BC, are the most complex of all temples in Malta. They comprise four temple units linked by a square court and they were the last to be built on the Islands. Their skilful construction and the elaborate design and workmanship suggest that the temple builders had gained considerable expertise over the millennia since the first phase of megalithic construction.
The temples are renowned for the detail of their carvings, which include stone idols, domestic animals carved in relief, altars and screens decorated with spiral designs and other patterns.
Your next stop will take you to the fishing village of Marsascala where you will be treated to a lunch at a restaurant renowned for it's fresh fish dishes. Following lunch the coach and guide will escort us to Ghar Dalam which literally means "Cave of Darkness" - Ghar Dalam Cave is a highly important site as it was here that the earliest evidence of human settlement on Malta, some 7,400 years ago, was discovered.
The history of the cave and of the Islands can be decoded from Ghar Dalam's stratigraphy. The lowermost layers, more than 500,000 years old, contained the fossil bones of dwarf elephants, hippopotami, micro-mammals and birds. Above the pebble layer that follows, is the so-called "deer" layer, dated to around 18,000 years ago. The top layer, dates to less than 10,000 years and holds evidence of the first humans on the Island.
The last stop is at Wied Iz-Zurrieq a quaint fishing village nestled within high imposing cliffs. From here an optional boat trip (fare not included) can be taken to reveal the splendors of the impressive Blue Grotto - a cathedral in stone, with Nature as its architect, Blue Grotto is an immense cave adorned with deep blue waters inside after which it takes its name.
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