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Valletta is the current capital of the Maltese islands, ever since the great siege of 1565 when the Ottoman empire narrowly failed to capture the islands from the Knights of St John. Fearing further attacks, the Knights decided to bolster their defences with a new, planned city: the biggest fortress in Europe. In military terms this turned out to be a complete fiasco. Napoleon captured the islands with barely a shot fired, and the fortress then saw its only real use when French troops hid inside it in the face of a Maltese peasant uprising.In architectural terms, it's a triumph, despite sustaining some of the heaviest bombing of the entire Second World War. The Knights spent as much time on beautifying the city as on fortifying it. In fact, they spent so much money on turning parts of Valletta into palaces of sybaritic luxury that they became deeply unpopular with the general populace. After the British kicked out the French, the Maltese people asked to become part of Britain rather than being handed back to the Knights.
The hapless Knights wandered around homelessly for the next few decades, failing to garner much sympathy or patronage anywhere in Europe, and eventually turned into a charitable organisation. They're a tiny but sovereign state, with its headquarters in Rome, and are Permanent Observers to the UN (similar to the Vatican).
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The buck stops here
St John's co-cathedral
Walking on the tombs of Knights
Morbid symbolism
Fantastic craftsmanship
View across the Grand Harbour
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Iain waits for his ship to come in
Watchtower
Storme tries not to scowl at the camera
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The Manderaggio area of Valletta is a bit of a slum. Up until the 60s it was sleazy and crowded; now it's practically a ghost town. The tourists don't come here, and the locals have no reason to live here unless they can't afford to move out.
Manderaggio
Even in a slum, all cars go to heaven
In contrast, the Upper Barakka Gardens is one of the most beautiful places in the whole island. It's next to the Auberge de Castille, the most magnificent secular building in Malta—once the private palace of a Grand Master of the Knights of St John, now the office of the prime minister.
Upper Barakka Gardens
View of the neighbouring city of Floriana
View of the Three Cities (Senglea, Vittoriosa and Cospicua)
The tip of the central spur is Fort St Angelo, adopted by the Knights as their original headquarters. They still run it as a training centre today. For reasons best known to themselves, the British Royal Navy defined this fort as a ship in 1933, the HMS St Angelo.
East Valletta and the Grand Harbour
Last view of Valletta