Malta

On November 14th, our cruise pulled into a port on the island of Malta.  This is one of the destinations that caused David to target this cruise as the one he wanted to take with his children.  Both Valleta and M'Dna are walled cities that are in wonderful condition.  This island has such history of conquests by many countries over the centuries.  Most famously, it is known for the famous victory in 1565 of the Knights of St. John against the Turks. 

The guide and driver took us to the City of Valleta and on the way we were able to see breathtaking views of the Mediterranean from the hillside cliffs.  In this area, we visited St. Paul's Catacombs.  St. Paul is not known to be buried in these catacombs at all, but it is dedicated to him.  The catacombs are empty excaveted areas deep under the surface.  They were creepy and some found them too narrow to enter.  Guess which one of us actually laid in one of the tomb crevices for a picture!

We went on to the Palace of the Masters (Knights of St. John) and also went to the Armory museum that David found so fascinating on our original visit in 2003.  See the pictures for more info.  We lunched in town and shortly afterward made our way back to the ship by way of a few shopping areas.

I'm in the process of posting some of our best pics from this day but they take several hours to post.  At the cost of $.40 per minute for internet service, you will understand why I don't post all of the hundreds of pics.