Malta: Mdina the Silent City

After a long day of adventuring in Valletta my sights turned inland to the city of Mdina otherwise known as the “Silent City”. I awoke and began my morning routine of coffee, balcony and sunrise. Then my attentions shifted to traveling inland. I grabbed the number 13 to Valletta and changed bus at Bombi 3 onto the 52. This wasn’t without issue as I missed the stop whilst in my own world, watching the sites pass by. Once on the 52 I again drifted watching Malta’s views out the window. I soon arrived at my first stop which was St. Paul’s Catacombs.

The Catacombs were included in my Heritage card I had purchased the previous day and I intended to see as much as possible. The site has many burials including Punic, Roman and Byzantine tombs. I was interested to see that some of the tombs held entire family lines and others housed a mix of different religious beliefs with Pagan, Christian and Jews all buried together. St. Paul is thought to have brought Christianity to the island, after he was shipwrecked on it, meaning some of the very first European Christians were from Malta. The catacombs themselves date back as early as the 4th century BC and were still in use as late as the 8th century AD. Overall there is a system of interconnected passages and tombs that cover 2000m squared.

Personally I was blown away by the catacombs and, thanks to it being rather early in the day, I had the majority of the site to myself. This was fantastic though somewhat creepy at times as during a walk around the biggest tomb the sensor lights must have forgotten I was in there and decided to turn themselves off! I was then further disturbed when I heard the laughing of children in the darkness though thankfully the family that had ventured down did in fact turn the lights back on and my fears died down. Creepy or not the catacombs were a highlight of my visit to Malta and I truly recommend them to any visitor. There are helpful signs outside each entrance which tell you the religion, amount of burials and a handy map of the tombs. They also state whether the site believes they are a must see which came in helpful after venturing up and down so many times I resolved to at least visit those ones.

After the catacombs I took a short walk to St Paul’s Grotto which cost me 6 Euros to enter. The cave is believed to have been where St Paul took shelter after his shipwreck and above it is a church. Oddly enough it was the nicest day of the trip so far weather-wise and I spent most of the morning underground! I decided to head to the Mdina city gate and on to the cathedral. To enter the cathedral it was another 15 Euros which personally I felt was a little steep, though this is due to the fact visitors get access to the cathedral museum as well as the cathedral itself. Though I was not too fussed about the museum I did a quick walk round to justify the price and then popped over the road to the cathedral. Of the three cathedrals I would visit on this trip Mdina for me was the least awe-inspiring though still worth a visit to those interested.

Once I had finished at the cathedral I decided to enjoy the sun some more and headed to the walls of the city looking back toward Valletta. The weather was so clear you could see Valletta very easily. Whilst taking lots of photos of the views a tour guide saw me with my rather oversized telescopic lens and stopped his tour to tell me to point the camera toward Sicily. I did exactly that and a vague outline appeared. Slightly bemused I asked what it was and he told me it was Mt Etna! He stated around twice a year the weather and view are clear enough to see the volcano from Malta and I must admit I didn’t quite believe him. Mt Etna, according to Google Maps was 133 miles away! So I took as many photos as I could in the general direction of Sicily and figured I would see what I could when I returned home. I can say for sure there is something that resembles a mountain in the picture below, I’ll leave you to decide if it is indeed Etna.

Soon I was getting hungry and decided to try my luck at Fontella Tea Garden which had stunning views across the whole island. My luck was in and I managed to get a table with the views despite the venue being slightly crowded. The food and service was fantastic and I appreciated the rest. I also enjoyed the large amount of small birds that were flying around and eating the crumbs dropped by the customers.

Soon I headed off again to a Knights of St John walkthrough experience. Me and two others watched a short film about the Knights and then we walked through full size dioramas of the history of the Knights. When the Knights came to Malta the Maltese were not so encouraged by their presence and retreated to Mdina as their home. Having had a settlement of sort in the area for over 4,000 years the fort was a good place to find security. The walkthrough was very interesting and covered almost all of the history of the Knights on the island.

I had planned to then visit Domvs Romana and first century Roman house however, I had sadly not realised the site was shut on the day of my visit. I decided to keep exploring the city instead. With the exception of residents, emergency vehicles and horse and cart the only way around the city is by foot and gives reason to the nickname, the Silent City. It is also the site of filming some of TV and films greatest hits, including Game of Thrones. With the weather as nice as it was it seemed only right that the day should wind down with a quick wander.

I decided to head back and grabbed the 202 direct to Sliema meaning I got to see even more of the island from the bus window. This did mean a short walk to the hotel but I was very happy for it. Soon it was time for evening food and to settle down for the evening, planning the next days activities.