It was another glorious morning and so we set out for a morning walk to make the most of this weather before heading for London. We move to London in two days and the maximum temperature there today was set for around 13 ^oC degrees. This will be a bit of a shock for us as we haven’t experienced lows like that since well before leaving for our trip; some 5 weeks ago.

Our plan for the day was to visit the ancient walled city of Mdina and Rabat. Mdina had served as the capital from ancient to medieval times. We had a 2 hour walking tour booked for 3 pm but we thought we’d head there ahead of time to do some exploring on our own and this was a little bit of an adventure as we caught the public bus to the region. You can still purchase individual tickets using cash on Malta buses which helps tourists like us. The buses here are very clean and comfortable with efficient air conditioning. They also have an electronic screen showing the next stop being approached as well as a recorded message announcing the next stop. The main thing though was that we felt safe, which is more than we could say about our previous day’s trip out to Gozo!

The trip out to Mdina took about 35 minutes and we arrived just before midday. Our first stop was at Casa Bernard, a 1642 palazzo that had been built over a mediaeval watch-tower that had, in turn, been built on Roman foundations. We were shown around the private home by the current owner who is a direct descendant of the French Knight of Malta who commissioned the palazzo build. It was a grand home and jammed full of antiques which made my mind boggle as to how he would keep it all clean. He did explain that they had two different cleaners who came on alternate days, except on a Sunday. It was interesting to browse through the rooms knowing so much family history had passed through the place and would continue to do so. One of the niftiest discoveries in the house, though, was the discovery of the secret spy hole in the floor of the balcony above the front door. This was used to secretly check out potential guests and I suspect it would still come in handy today!

Our next stop was at St Paul’s Catacombs and these date back to the 3rd – 8th century BC. The site was initially used as a quarry by the Phoenicians but Pagan Romans, Christians and then Jews later used the disused quarries as catacombs.

It was getting on past 2pm by the time we emerged from the catacombs and so we headed back to the Mdina area to where we were picking up our 3pm walking tour.

We met out guide, Carmel, who was something of a cross between Mr Bean and Andrew Denton, and he showed us through the Mdina and Rabat with much enthusiasm and humour. He explained how occupation of the Mdina can be traced back to 2800 BC with the Bronze Age and, like with so many areas we’ve been through on this trip, this was then followed by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Muslims and Normans. It was the Muslims who named the area and two key place names remain today; Mdina and Rabat. The Knights of Malta took back the area in 1530 and this part of Malta was spared from much of the 1535 siege as the Muslims went on to Gozo, however, the Mdina was greatly impacted by a 1693 earthquake. The next occupants to appear were the French, led by Napoleon, followed by the English until independence was granted to Malta in 1964. You can actually trace the input on the city walls of each of the occupying Roman, Norman, Arabic, Knights and British. Mdina was the capital until 1571 when the Knights finished fortifying Valletta and moved the capital to be closer to the harbor and ports. Our guide, Carmel, advised us that Malta remains the Hollywood of Europe and how Season 1 of Game of Thrones was filmed in Mdina and that Tom Cruise is due soon to film a new Mission Impossible. We also learned that there is only one hotel within the walled city and this is the hotel of choice for Charles and Camilla when they visit Malta. The population of the Mdina is around 260 with many of these being noble families that live in rather grand palazzos.

Our tour ended up by around 5.30 pm and so we headed back to Valletta via the bus. We ended up having dinner back at Taste and I can firmly vouch that this restaurant offer the best food and wine at the best value in Europe, not just Malta! Make sure you visit them if you’re ever in the area. How lucky were we to have this fantastic dining option literally 150 meters from our front door!