Activity Review: Knights of Malta Walking Tour
On our last morning in Malta, we managed to squeeze in our favorite pastime in a city - a walking tour covering from the knights of St John to New Year Eve’s festivities!
Read about our Christmas 2019 planning post and the rest of our stay in Malta, including amazing activities such as Maltese wine and scuba diving!
We booked a tour with Colour My Travel and thoroughly enjoyed the guide’s in-depth knowledge about this wonderful city and island!
Knights of St. John
In the 1500s, an ancient order of Catholic knights originally founded as part of the crusades was given permission to settle and guard the ancient island of Malta. As these were very wealthy Catholic knights, they built most of Valetta. Amazingly, it sounded very much like an old college town!
Essentially, say you’re from England, you would belong to the English order and the knight would have their own mansion and parties. It sounded incredibly, especially as we viewed these beautiful stone structures dating back to the 1500s.
Most of the city was built by them! Unfortunately, they did not treat the locals very well and often viewed them as servants so times quickly changed once they are off the island.
One of the most famous events in the Knights of St John or even Malta’s history is the famous siege of 1565 where they alone stopped the Ottoman Empire in its tracks from conquering more of Western Europe. The Ottoman fleet could not penetrate or take over the main fortifications. Through the knights bravery, the forts, thereby the island, remained intact and the knights halted the advance!
Wake me up when it is September!
For Malta, an island named for honey or honey colored stone, September is the best month of the year! Thus, if you want to visit during a popular and happy time, visit in the month where Malta was repeatedly liberated from its captors! Back in 1565, the Great Siege of Malta ended! Fast forward to the 1800s, the island became free from France! Lastly, in WW2, September was the month the Italians surrendered and shortly after, the English gave the island its freedom.
Central Valletta
Amongst the building, honey colored buildings, there are many historical and noteworthy buildings!
Parliament
After World War 2, the government area needed refurbishment so they set out for a very long process. There are a very ruins that they converted into outdoor concert halls or meeting areas. For the fancy parliament building, it was redone recently.
Next, the whole city gate was refurbished after a recent excavation to discover any more secrets or fun history facts. I thoroughly love hearing about their efforts to discover this ancient island’s history and uncover any more unique stories!
Upper Burrka
Originally for infamous plots and scheming during days of the Knights of St John, the Upper Burrka gardens are a true oasis amidst the honey colored buildings. The beautiful garden is decorated with benches, memorials and fantastic lookouts. From here, our guide pointed out many famous locations. From our location, the further fort, Fort St Elmo, is one of the largest stone forts in the world. Within the fort’s walls, it can fit SIX football fields! Not only have football games have been held there, but also a lot of movies such as Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and more!
Another crucial fort is St Angelo that is across the channel from the Upper Burrka. In the famed Siege of Malta in 1565, Fort St Angelo won the battle as it repelled the invaders time and time again. Similarly in WW2, the old fort managed to survive 70 direct hit from air bombing! The foundation and walls are incredible to withstand that much torture!
The last famous or historical landmark from the Upper Burrka is the saluting battery. Every day at 12pm and 4pm, the historical society puts on a cannon demonstration. Now we learned why we saw the cannon yesterday!
St John Cathedral
One of the last attractions that we walked past was the famous St John Cathedral. Located next to our great lunch spot, Zero Sei, we had been standing in front of this church long before we knew it was famous! On Malta, this church is perhaps the most important one and likely dates back to the first settlement. Inside the church, it is beautiful! We thoroughly were amazed at the decor and marble!
Walking around Valetta
For the rest of the tour, we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the beautiful city. Valletta is such an unique blend of cultures and countries! I couldn't place all our pictures with landmarks so here are all the pictures from our tour!
The UnChartered Summary
If you’re a history nerd, this tour is ABSOLUTELY for you! While I greatly enjoyed the small facts, I was slowly losing Mary Frances’ attention.
- Our guide was absolutely terrific at spitting out anything and everything you need to know!
- The process from booking to end was very smooth and we didn’t need to print anything.
- Rather than a paid tour, I would highly recommend checking out the free tours offered by Colour My Travel. We couldn’t go on these because our dates were slightly off!