Cruise Report

May.8th

Following the footsteps of St. John the Baptist

St. John Baptist Church’s simple facade blends with the other buildings of the city downtown. The austere looks on the outside would never will never lead you to imagine the magnificeny of the church’s interior. Through the paintings in the vaulted ceiling, you can follow St. Johns life, from his birth to his capture and decapitation. Other paintings also feature the Grand Masters of the knights order. Even if you don’t know it’s history, you can get from the atmosphere how much of a sacred and important place this is. Leaving this beautiful place, we walk for a few minutes towards the Grandmaster’s Palace. This building had an important role, serving as the official residence of the knights. You can see many armors lining up in the hall, emanating such a dignified aura and making me think about the history and romance of the knight’s order.

The island of Malta is well known for it’s knight order. The co-cathedral of St. John the Baptist was built in the 16th century by the Knights order.

The church is a testimony of the prosperity of the knights order, with it’s interiors being so luxurious to leave one speechless. In the attached museum you can even find the masterpiece “The Beheading of St. John” by Italian painter Caravaggio.

The Grandmaster’s Palace is also one of the oldest buldings in Malta. If you are lucky enough, you may even be able to see the changing of the guards.

Gourmet delicacies full of charm that you must try!

Having received a big influence from Italian food, and adding some components of Arab food culture from Norhern Africa, Maltese food is quite peculiar inside Mediterranean food. From plates that use rabbit meat, a traditional ingredient in Malta, or fish dishes that one can expect to find in an island as Malta, there is a wide diversity of plates and all of them looked delicious. Eating at a restaurant with a beautiful veiw to the Mediterranean Sea made the experience even better. Altough Malta is an small island, it has so many secrets and charms. Even though I didn’t know much about Malta before, now I find myself thinking that “I would like to visit it again”. I think this is part of the delights that come along with an around-the-world voyage.With all these fun memories close to my heart, I decide to head back to the ship. The sight of Malta during the sunset was magical to say the least. I start to remember the beutiful cityscape as the boat start to move.

Rabbit meat dishes seem to have originated as a symbol of the resistance to the hunting restrictions set by the knights order.

The cityscape of Valetta seeing from the top of the fortress. As it is an small island, you can always see a boat somewhere close.

The scenery that we see while we depart is special as always. There is some feeling of nostalgia in the atmosphere that remains as the boat slowly heads to out next destination.