Birgu, St. Julien and Valletta

This morning was a little better when we woke up. We were awake at 7:00am but we decided to stay in bed and read. It was a little after 8:00am when we got up, showered and dressed. We had some breakfast and got our things ready for the day. Around 9:30am we all left the apartment and walked to the Birgu Market. Every Tuesday morning there is a big street market in Birgu and you can pretty much buy anything. The market stretched down the length of the entire street (Triq Il - Gublew Tal - Fidda). There was everything you might need - fresh fruit & vegetables, fish, clothes, household supplies, toys, etc. - it was amazing.

Around 11:00am we walked to Birgu Center and took a bus to Valletta and then transferred to a bus to St. Julian's. As the bus got closer to St. Julian's we wondered where to get off and be in the center of town. So we just decided to get off when I saw a sign on a building that said "Hello St. Julian's Come On In". It was about 12:30pm when we arrived and we were hungry so we decided to find a place to eat. We ended up in a pub called Dubliner. We had a good meal and the we walked along the water and did a little exploring around the town. There were some great views of the bay but other than that now much for us to do there. So we decided to catch a bus and head back to Valletta.

Once in Valletta we decided to go off on our own. Near the bus stop we saw a beautiful church that i wanted to explore and the others didn't want to go. So Thomas and I walked over to the church (St. Publius) - it was locked so we couldn't go in but we walked around it. And then we crossed the street and walked through a lovely park - The Mall and headed into Valletta. On the way we decided to stop back at Herbert Ganado Gardens and look for the letterbox that we missed yesterday. This time we had a more relaxed search and you can read about that at One Letterbox on Malta: Found. After doing this we made our way into Valletta.

We walked down Republic Street and made our way to St. John's Co-Cathedral. We were near here yesterday but nobody wanted to go in, so we skipped it. But today I was determined to go in. So we paid our admission and got an audio tour of the church. We followed the audio tour and enjoyed our walk around the church. It is stunning - lots of gold and wonderful architecture. The church is home to The Beheading of St. John the Baptist by Caravaggio. It is his largest painting and the only one signed by the painter. I really enjoyed visiting St. John's - I think it is a must see for anyone visiting Valletta.

After our tour of the church we walked along Republic Street and stopped at Amorino for a frappé. Once we had our drinks we strolled down a few more streets before heading to the ferry for a ride over to Birgu. We had a little wait for the ferry and we enjoyed the 15 minute ride across the Grand Harbor. We made our way back to the apartment, visited with Dave & Deanne and relaxed for a while. Around 6:45pm we left the apartment to meet Jessica in Birgu Center for dinner. We ended up eating at Bebirgu. It was a great little place and we ate out in a small courtyard. Thomas had spaghetti bolognese and I had meatballs. It was delicious. We had a nice quiet evening in a very relaxing atmosphere. After dinner we walked Jessica back to their apartment and then we made our way to our apartment.

It was a good day and I got some things checked off my To Do list. It was very relaxing and enjoyable and we loved all we did. Tomorrow we head to Mellieha and the Popeye Village.