The Three Cities area is just across the harbor from Valletta – Vittoriosa (also called Birgu), Singlea, and Cospicua. In reality, they are just three small towns, each only a few hundred meters across.
The options for getting there from Valletta are bus, ferry, or water taxi – a small gondola with a motor called a dghajsa. We paid €2.00 each to make the crossing in the dghajsa with 4 other passengers from Greece. The “pilot” was careful to position us according to weight so that the load was equally distributed.
Once on the other side, we admired the beautiful and enormous yachts in the harbor.
The Malta at War Museum is not as sophisticated as the war museums we visited in Poland but the highlight is a tour of an actual World War II underground shelter. Because Three Cities is right next to the harbor, it was extensively bombed and these hand-dug tunnels held up to 500 people overnight. The ceiling is low and we were issued hardhats – likely less effective when worn backwards…
After our tour, we stopped by a quiet outdoor cafe for coffee and imqaert, a local specialty. Pastry filled with dates and then deep-fried.
A traditional street food in Malta is called Pastizzi – a savory puff pastry with various fillings – ricotta, mashed peas, or creamy chicken. In Malta, you’re never far from a pastizzeria. Below, Larry is trying one under the watchful eye of the vendor. These make for a quick, cheap, and filling lunch.
Back in Valletta, we walked to the ferry port to get a closer look at this large ship.
Larry talked to the security guy at the harbor and learned that the ship is an all-electric-powered ferry – the first that this security guy has ever seen. He checked the log and told us that it’s a new ferry, made in Scandinavia (possibly Norway) and just stopped in Malta to re-charge – destination unknown.
The sky is blue and the temps are up to 62 degrees. All is well!