Mosta, MDina, Rabat and Beyond! Let the Touring Begin!!!!

November 13, 2015 · by Dano · in Malta

After a hearty breakfast made right in the comfort of our apartment, we strolled off to sign up for the hop on-hop off bus. Not the cheapest ride in town but it gets you to the sites quickly and without tons of stops. Cost was 34EU each but that included both the north (23 stops) and south (25 stops) tours as well as a harbor cruise, decent deal.

First on our adventure today is the Malta Aviation Museum located on an old Royal Air Force Station about 20 minutes outside Valletta. The three hangars contain mostly WW2 aircraft in various stages of repair from piles of parts to completely restored aircraft, along with uniforms and personal items from that era as well. Cost is 7EU each for the self-guided tour which provides you ample time to read the history associated with each artifact or aircraft. Probably not the top tour on our list but very interesting and contains a lot of history about Malta in WW2. My favorite was the Spitfire and Hurricane that are fully restored. Must have been pretty exciting to fly one of these aircraft.

Hurricane Spitfire

Mosta

Back on the bus and off to Mosta. Now why would you go to Mosta, you ask? Well if you recall, during WW2 there were lots of bombs dropped on Malta, lots of bombs. In the town of Mosta there is a domed church built in 1860 that has the distinction of being bombed during the war. So what you say, a lot of churches were bombed during the war. Well on April 09, 1942 this one just happened to have about 300 people in the congregation when a 500lb bomb came through the dome and landed on the floor, without exploding! Devine intervention, quite possibly. You could say it all-Mosta exploded or Mosta the people ran out of the church. Today this town is known for its strong religious population and having the best track team in Malta. A strange ending to this story, at the end of WW2 the German pilot who dropped the bomb on the church came to Mosta to apologize. Apparently he was to bomb the nearby airfield and missed his target but delivered a direct hit to the church dome. The people of Mosta were very forgiving, they first beat him silly, then tar and feathered him and then, no that’s not the way it ends. The people forgave the pilot and went on about their business, end of story.

Picture showing where bomb came through dome

MDina

MDina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the center of Malta. This town served as the islands capitol from antiquity to about 1530 and there is evidence of settlements in this area that date back to ~4000BC. MDina was fortified by the Phoenicians around 700BC and later it served as the Roman Governor’s palace. But it was the Arabs that surrounded the city with thick defensive fortifications and a wide moat, separating it from its nearest town, Rabat.

Today Mdina is mostly private apartments, quite expensive apartments, a museum and several restaurants, oh yeah and a church. Being one of the highest locations on the island, it does give great vistas of the surrounding countryside. Note the 2 clocks on the church tower. Legend has it that churches have 2 clocks, one with the correct time, one with the wrong time, so the Devil won’t know when mass is being held.

View from MDina with Mosta dome in background

MDina

Now if you know Collette, you know that she just can’t pass up a dungeon tour not matter where we are. Ever since Edinburgh, Scotland she has dreamed about seeing another dungeon, and here it is, right inside the gate at MDina. For the nominal fee of 9EU we were treated to some of the most ghastly, gory, horrible depictions of horror you can imagine. No I got it right, horrible depictions. The mannequins are painted with real blood-like red paint and in some pretty grotesque positions but not scary and if I may, not the best use of 9EU. But, we’re here and damn it we’re going to see it! After all this excitement, let’s eat!

And my personal favorite….

Rabat

Rabat, meaning ‘suburb’ in Arabic, is a small town conjoined with Mdina. During Roman rule of Malta, Rabat was known as Melita. The town is best known for the Catacombs of St. Paul and St. Agatha which can be accessed through an annex of St. Pauls church. There are also bomb shelters and St. Pauls grotto you can tour located in the same access. For ~10EU you can descend down about 60-80ft below ground to the catacombs that contain over 500 burial locations. Along with the catacombs are bomb shelters built during WW2 to house the people of Rabat. Some of these are quite impressive for simple cut-outs in limestone. Some have tiled floors while others have painted walls, niches, and counters carved in them. Most all still have their address number located above the doorway. If you are a little claustrophobic, probably not a place you want to see.