Day 17 - Malta - Valletta, Mdina, Rabat

Minivans picked us up at our homes and we met for a tour of Valletta, Mdina, and Rabat.

A little history: Valletta was built in the 16th century by the Knights of St. John. The Knights of St. John had their beginnings in the Christian Crusades of the 11th and 12th centuries. A hospital for poor pilgrims was established in 1070 by some Italian merchants. A group of monks operated the hospital and it earned the protection of the papacy in 1113. At this time it became an independent religious order known as the Hospitallers. Knights who had been healed showed their gratitude by granting funds and property to this growing order. Other knights gave protection to pilgrims. Because of these two things, the Knights double role of healing the sick and waging war on enemies of Christ began to form. The official name of the Knights of St. John is 'The Sovereign and Military Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem.' The Order was ruled over by the Supreme Council, and was led by the Grand Master.

The Maltese Cross has eight points. It is said that the eight points represent the eight virtues which the Knights were to uphold: to live in truth, to have faith, to repent of sins, to give proof of humility, to love justice, to be merciful, to be sincere and whole-hearted, and to endure persecution.
Back to our day: We met in Valletta and started our tour. We visited the gardens which overlooked the Grand Harbor. We also walked the streets and saw decorations for one of the many Feast days. There are 331 Catholic churches on Malta, and each one has their own feast. The feast usually starts on Thursday and goes until Sunday night...with decorations, fireworks, street vendors....

Mdina, the Silent City, is an old walled city. The Phoenicians first built a protective wall around it in 1000 BC and called it Malet, which means 'place of shelter.' It got the name Mdina in the 9th century when Arabs arrived. They built strong walls and a dug a deep moat between Mdina and its suburbs - Rabat.

There are not many cars in Mdina. Joseph told us only cars of people who live there and emergency vehicles are allowed in. I asked him what about when you have people over? Well, you park outside the city and either walk in or the people who live in Mdina come pick you up. There is no room for extra cars anyway!

We went to St. Paul's Square in Mdina. That's where St. Paul's church is.
We had time to explore this little city and also had another 'Riddle Rally', like we had done in Rome.




You can see the knights against the wall in this photo on the right. Well, Claire, the Cassar's 16 year old daughter, has a knight that she BUILT! It's in their living room right next to the knight Joseph built when he was young! We equated it with how many fourth graders build a California Mission. The knights, both Claire's and Joseph's, were built out of tin. Wish I had taken a photo of it!

Some of our delegates were getting homesick by the end of Day 17.