Views from the inside

Another day in Valletta, but this time we actually went into the buildings. The most impressive was probably St. John's cathedral which is pretty plain on the outside but decorated with lavish Baroque art on it's interior.






We got an audio tour which told us all about it. Apparently the interior art was added a bit later in celebration of St. John, and the outside was left alone in accordance with the old adage: "if it ain't Baroque... don't fix it."

A lot of the knights of St. John are buried under these giant floor tiles which marks the passing from their human life to their eternal life. Hence the skulls, skeletons and angels holding trumpets.



The ceiling was painted by one Mattia Preti, born in 1613, and heavily influenced by Caravaggio. There was a lot of art by Caravaggio himself, the most important of which depicts the beheading of John the Baptiste, but alas, no photography was aloud in those rooms.

After the cathedral we hit up the armory for supplies. Actually we hit up a cafe for a drink and went to the armory for fun.


Another audio tour guided us through the halls, but it wasn't as interesting as the cathedral.


For lunch we went to TripAdvisor-recommended Ambrosia, which did not disappoint. Ming had the rabbit which is supposedly another Maltese specialty.


After that it was a leisurely walk home before catching a cab to the airport to start our cruise from Barcelona.

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