The Three Cities and Floriana

I was using the lonely planet guide book for my stay in Malta and it has walking tours of Floriana, Vittoriosa and Senglea. I did all three of these tours while staying in Valleta.

Floriana is right next to Valleta and you just walk through the circule that is just outside of the city gate of Valleta and you are in Floriana. None of the churches in Floriana were open when I did the walking tour but this one seemed to be an unusual shape.

The part of the this walking tour that I like the best was the Valleta water front that has a number of cafes with a good view to the three cities. This is also where the cruise ships dock. This is from the water front of fort St Angelo which is at the end of the city Vittoriosa which was the next walking tour that I did.

Vittoriosa is the name in the guide book for this city but all the signs use the older name for the city or Birgu. This is the case for all 3 cities that the guide book lump together and calls the three cities. These are older than Valleta and are also walled cities. Just outside the place I stayed in Valleta had a great view of 2 of the three cities, Vittoriosa and Senglea.

I visited the Inquisitor's Palace while doing the walking tour of Vittorisa. It was used as a prision during the inquisitions. It was interesting reading some of the stories about the people held in the prision for being Muslim. The building itself was also interesting.

I also enjoyed the views of both Senglea and Valleta from Vittoriosa. The harbor between Senglea and Vittoriosa is full of sail boats and also has a few huge yacths. I am sure these yachts cost more than I will earn in a lifetime.

When I am walking around some of these walled cities and forts I think about how much work it must have taken to build these. I guess I should not complain about my job behind a computer it is a lot better than a lifetime of stacking stones.

Senglea also known as L-Isla was the last of my walking tours and seemed to be the smallest of the cities I walked through. It was a lot like the others with really small alley type of street with a fort on one end and a few churches in the middle. It also had great views over the water. The blue water of the harbor and the walled cities make for some pretty good pictures. I found it sort of funny that I found myself spending most of my time on these walks looking at the cities across the water rather then the city I was walking through.