Valetta harbour is tiny and extraordinarily busy. You can see the whole harbour here behind the breakwaters. We went in and parked between those two big cruise ships.

As you approach it looks like the whole city is just carved out of rock … looks mostly like limestone.

We had organised a private little tour to see some things outside Valetta. First the Mosta Dome. An amazing church dominating a very ordinary town.

It’s hard to convey the scale of it, even with panorama photos.

A German bomb came right through this dome in WWII, luckily it didn’t explode.

Then to Mdina, the old capital of Malta. A fortified town, surrounded with a moat, on a hill near the middle of the island.

Just one way in …

It is now beautifully restored and preserved … and UNESCO listed. Our 90 minute stroll through the streets and squares was just gorgeous.

From the ramparts, a superb view. Mosta Dome in the middle distance.

Then to the Dingli cliffs. The high, wild west coast of the island, made up of very strange sharp porous rock.

… but they can still find a place to make a little farm/garden down there …

Then back to Valetta itself.  A busy Mediterranean city.  Lots of shopping opportunities here too, but after Italy, Jan is just about shopped out!

So we visited the St John Co Cathedral.  A “product” of the ancient knights of St John. You could spend nearly a day here soaking up the history and mystery of the old knights.

The decoration is quite something: particularly the painted domed roof and the hundreds of graves of the knights on the floor. Never seen anything like it!

We walked on, following incorrect directions as to how to get back to the ship, and found these gardens.

Then found our way past these very posh harbour front houses …

… and old, old warehouses outside the city gates …

Back on the ship I decided to check email … and … well, more of that story later …