Marsaxlokk to White Night Malta-style (4/10)

The day didn't start well. We had hoped to go back to Gozo today, but it was after 10.00am before we were contacted about the power, or lack thereof. Finally we got a phone call and it took precisely one minute for Allan to locate some keys so that he could get into another fuse box down by the front door. Why they couldn't have contacted us as soon as Allan messaged them this morning who knows. So that meant a change of plan. We decided to reverse our plans and go down to Marsaxlokk today and go to Gozo tomorrow. It is a pity, because there was a festival and market in Marsaxlokk tomorrow which would have been interesting.

St John's co-cathedral - very ornate

We caught the bus into Valletta and decided to go to St. John's Co-cathedral before heading off to Marsaxlokk because we didn't know how long we would be down on the coast. It was just as well. The Cathedral closed at 12.30pm today so we would have missed it again, but what a crowd! To put other information into perspective, it was worth the effort. The cathedral was started in 1573, although the foundation stone for the new city, started after the Great Siege, was laid in 1566. Fortunately it escaped damage during the war. For the first hundred years its austere exterior was matched by a simple barrel vaulted interior. 
Off the nave were chapels for each of the eight auberges which the Order was divided into, and each of these was dedicated to their own patron Saint. As the power and wealth of Rome grew, the Order decided that it had to match the extravagance that was being created in Rome, not to mention a little competition between the auberges as well. This was at the height of the Baroque period, so every square inch of the interior was decorated. It was breath-taking. Gilded stucco work was everywhere, and in each of the chapels was a painted alter piece, and often at least two memorials to past Grand Masters of the Order. Some of the sculptures were beautiful, having been carved in Italy by the masters of the time. You have to remember that many of the Knights of the Order, and in particular those who held office, were very rich men in their own right, so they could afford to pay for the top artists. 

Some of the marble-inlay floor

The floors of the chapels and the church were covered in the beautiful gravestones of the most noble of the knights who died on Malta and were subsequently buried there. They are all of inlaid marble of many hues. The workmanship is stunning. From the main church we moved into the Oratory, built by the Order where the noviciates were taught practices of the Order. This was a little less ornate, but held two magnificent paintings by Carravagio. One, the largest and only painting he signed, of "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" was originally the alter piece in the church, but this was replaced in 1710 by an equally magnificent sculpture of "St. John Baptising Christ In the River Jordan ". Carravagio arrived in Malta after fleeing Rome on the threat of imprisonment after he killed a man in a brawl. He became a noviciate and was accepted into the Order, but after just several months he quarrelled and injured a knight of higher rank and was jailed. He managed to escape, and never returned. The second smaller painting is "Saint Jerome Writing" and was bequeathed to the the Chapel of Italy, but has been moved into the Oratory for safe keeping.
From the Oratory you had the option of going through the museum or exiting the cathedral. We opted to go through the museum, and saw some of their collection of tapestries. This is apparently the only complete set of tapestries known. Often sets are broken up when they fall out of fashion or their owners need some cash. There are twenty-nine of them, and they are huge. The original cartoons for them were drawn by Rubens. They used to be hung in the cathedral on special occasions. At present there isn't enough space in the museum to have them all on display at once. There were also some very early books of choral music, in a very large format, but perhaps this is so that several choristers could gather around them to read the music. It would have been too expensive to have had individual sheets of music. There were some vestments donated by several of the Grand Masters, all beautifully embroidered. Although the cathedral was very crowded, we were pleased to have seen it. Photographs give you no comprehension of what it is really like. It is like listening to the radio instead of being at the concert.

It was then back to the bus station via the crêperie as it was lunch time. They welcomed us like long lost friends. Allan had a chat with them. They are from Brittany where they said there was too much competition so decided to try their luck elsewhere. They knew about the crêperie we have been to in Melbourne. This time it was one savoury one and one sweet one.

The bus trip to Marsaxlokk took us in a different direction again, this time down to the south east. The countryside really doesn't vary very much. We took a little while to get through the suburbs and then we were into rural country, where the fields are a little larger and are probably big enough for a tractor rather than a hand-guided rotary hoe. We passed several watchtowers along the way. These were built by the Order to maintain a coast watch system.

Traditional boats at Marsaxlokk

We guessed correctly and got off at the right bus stop and walked down into Marsaxlokk, a fishing village which has grown somewhat. Fishing is probably still its livelihood but tourism also plays a large part. There were a number of market stalls along the waterfront. Riding at anchor were many of the small, brightly painted traditional fishing boats called luzzu. These have a very high prow and vary in size, although most are small enough for one man to handle. They are supposed to have derived from the Phoenician boats, and all of them have the eye of Osiris painted on the bow, which offers protection against all the dangers the sea might throw at them. We wandered along the waterfront, through the market and back again. There were a couple of bus loads of people, but in the main it was very quiet and peaceful. Were a couple of bus loads of people, but in the main it was very quiet and peaceful. We had a bit of a wait for the bus back to Valletta, but it was warm and sunny, so it didn't matter.
We went straight back to the apartment and then decided that we would return to Valletta for an early dinner then see what Valletta's version of "Notte Bianca" or "White Night" had to offer. We sat outside (haven't eaten inside since Sicily) and were busy eating our pizzas at a restaurant in the main street when the drums, then the pipes of a local band started away in the distance, then marched down past our table and disappeared. It created a real stir amongst many of the patrons at the restaurant. That set the scene for the evening. We finished dinner and set out to explore. 

An operatic group keeping the crowd entertained

Our first stop was on the steps of the cathedral. Here a group of singers were performing popular arias from a number of operas. I have to day that it quite a surreal experience having the toreador doing his thing in one ear, and having the bagpipes playing a Scottish air in the other. The tenor coped very well. When the singers had finished, an army band took over. We didn't wait for them to finish their set. From there we went into the building which at one time had been the law courts and is now the Public Health Department. The building was originally commissioned in 1757 by Grand Master Pinto to house the Civil and Criminal Tribunal of the Order. It also housed a chapel and a prison. The courts were eventually moved out of here in 1853, and it became a girls school before being abandoned for nearly half a century before before becoming what it is today. It was actually here where the discovery was made that Brucellosis, which was present in goat's milk, was the cause of fever and that measures could be taken to prevent this. There were many other government buildings not normally open to the public which had their doors open, but the queues were very long so we avoided them. Having earlier in the day paid to go into St John's Co- cathedral, we decided to have another look to see what it was like at night. This proved worth it, because there were fewer crowds, some of the chapels we hadn't been able to get into were accessible, and the chairs had been moved so that you could see the tomb stones in all their massed magnificence. 

A Jazz group lead by an Australian

From here we wandered down a side street and came across an Australian jazz band which we listened to until someone literally pulled the plug on them and the music died. The auberge which is also the parliament building was open but as I said the queues weren't worth it. There was a stage in front of it where some musicians were setting up, but they were taking so long we wandered off, passing a band in the old opera house which seemed to make more loud music without much tune. We hurried past head-banging group down yet another street and came out onto St George's Square where there was a brass band playing up on a balcony of another of the aubergues. From there we came across a female jazz singer who had a great voice and could really play the piano as well, and then heard the last number by a duo playing ukulele and guitar. Our final hoorah before heading back home was to go via St John's cathedral steps to see what was on. There we heard a tenor sing several popular songs, then "I'm A Believer" followed by "Nesum Dorma". We decided that those two did go together. Shrek sang the former, and Pavarotti the latter, and both had a similar physique! We decided Valletta had put on a much better White Night than Melbourne, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.