A Va-lletta from Malta

There has been a slight change to the itinerary that I listed out the other day. Instead of today being a day at rest, the need, to get reliable internet access meant that we ventured into Valletta, the capital of Malta.

One of the things Malta is known for is it's wonderful bus service and buses, and indeed the Maltese seemed proud of this heritage too as all the souvenir stands seem to have yellow bus fridge magnets aplenty. It is somewhat sad to see that, as far as I can tell, these quaint things have been replaced by soulless Arriva buses.

That said, I could not deny they were nicely air-conditioned and were very frequent and cheap (you can travel the island on the bus all day for less that three Euros). I love travelling by public transport wherever I can as it invariably takes you to places you would never naturally go to, so the journey to Valletta was great fun, allowing us to enjoy the Maltese countryside.

A special mention has to go out to the driving over here, it is very random, especially at roundabouts. Britain was the country which invented and standardised the rules of etiquette when using roundabouts and it appears that to cock-a-snook at their former colonial overlords the Maltesers have dispensed with these rules. When a car is on the roundabout it is usual in the UK for cars looking to join to wait until they have passed before embarking on their manoeuvre; in Malta a car on the roundabout is a signal for flooring it and forcing the other cars to stop on the roundabout to avoid hitting you.........

Anyway, back to Valletta (my tangential witterings would put Ronnie Corbett to shame!). The bus ride was very nice giving us a long tour of some of the towns on the north of the island. There is a lot of rubble and derelict buildings and I wondered if they were a residual hangover from the second world war or not.

We arrived in Valletta and headed down towards the harbour so I could get the obligatory Valletta "money shot" of the forts across the harbour. This was a very impressive view to be fair, but I was slightly disappointed that the access to the fort was restricted so I could only get a few token snaps of the outside. Part of me felt like sneaking in anyway, but my curiosity was soon assuaged by the sound of repeat gun fire coming from the fort. Either they took the act of trespass very seriously here or, more plausibly judging by the sign I found a bit further down the road, the fort was used as a Police academy (only slightly more amusing than the film franchise I would imagine....)

This is Fort Ricasoli as seen from Fort Elmo

In case you are not aware, Malta was one of the most bombed places in the whole war, and its residents proved to be so resolute, that at the end of the war, George VI awarded the whole island the George Cross, the highest accolade that can be awarded to civilians.

This is a plaque on the parliament building quoting verbatim the letter from the king.

Personally, I preferred the language on the American plaque next door, apart from the fact they spell centre incorrectly!

The American plaque......

Another thing that Malta is famous for is for its churches. Being a catholic country, you can't go more than 100 yards without finding one. I like churches (coming from an Irish heritage it would be a sin not to) but I have to admit my real reason for coming here was the megalithic temples. However, here are a couple of church shots with which to feast your eyes.

This is St John's cathedral in the centre of Valletta......

......And this is a church on Merchant's street

Today has been a day at rest, and tomorrow we venture out to Gozo for our first day of templing. I need to dust my fedora down and get my bullwhip out of retirement.....Indiana Beamish returns......

Entering Jordan and the Citadel

Early this morning I made the journey from the centre of Cairo to the airport in order to catch my flight to Amman in Jordan. At 5am Cairo is wonderfully peaceful, and not gridlocked with cars! It had not been possible to approach Jordan from any other route other than this, as the hotels all around Petra (where I am trying to get to) are packed out. Therefore I am staying in Amman, and am going to drive down there instead.

The flight was uneventful, but it was interesting to note that the plane has to fly south and go into Saudi Arabia before turning north to Jordan. The simplest route would of course be for it to head due east over Israel. Without asking why, I am suspecting that planes from Arab countries all avoid Israeli airspace, either through choice, or because they have to. I suppose some tensions still run high!

Anyway, I arrived in Jordan and was greeted by Mr Ali, a local taxi driver, who was only too keen to help me part with my tourist dinars when all I wanted was to get to the hotel. Still, he was incredibly friendly and was extremely helpful in showing me a few sights along the way from the airport to the hotel. My early impressions of Jordan are that it is much more friendly and welcoming a place than Egypt, and also less invasive of your personal space (i.e. if you say no, you are not pestered). Also, the people here seem really proud of being Jordanian, and the amount of times I have been asked “we hope you enjoy our country” is nice to see.

Amman is built on hills, and the urban sprawl looks great from on high

I actually arrived too early for my room, as it was still being prepared, and so I had a couple of hours to kill, which Mr Ali managed to fill for me by taking me to the Roman ruins at the Citadel in Amman and showing me the Amphitheatre, even coming along with me and taking a few photos for me. My love of old things, was enough to wake up my flagging body and I happily wandered around in the Jordanian sunshine snapping away at Roman columns.

The Citadel has had many influences over the years, it was firstly a Roman temple dedicated to Hercules, then later, a Byzantine Basilica was built here (6th-7th century), before the Umayyad Arabs arrived destroying the Basilica and they built a palace here ( 9th century). This was destroyed by an earthquake soon after completion, and it seems like all of these things had been left to ruin since that time until recent years, when preservation and restoration of the mosque (in particular) was undertaken.

The Roman temple to Hercules, or should that be Heracles....

Umayyad homesteads....well, what is left of them anyway....

Take my word for it, there are the remains of a 6th Century Byzantine church

Amman is built on hills, so you can get some lovely panoramas from on high of the whole city. The mountain that the citadel is on is the highest in Amman, and so commands spectacular views of the streets below, with one of the nicest being the view down to the Roman amphitheatre hundreds of feet below. The architecture of the city is gorgeous, really reminiscent of other Arabesque countries in North Africa. Combined with the sound of the mosques calling everyone to prayer, it really is a wondrous feast for the senses.

The citadel affords nice views of the Roman amphitheatre

After a couple of hours here, I returned to my hotel, and finally my room was sorted out. I am actually in a brand new wing of the hotel, and the smell of newness is still on the room!! All I can say is this place is lovely, nice and spacious, beautiful decor, a LCD TV, and more facilities than you could shake a stick at.

My room is smells brand new. I like the office in the corner allowing me to
keep my finger on the pulse of the international money markets. Sell, sell!!

Tomorrow I have arranged for another early start so I can make the long trek down to Petra, where I am hoping to find the Holy Grail that Indiana Jones left behind....I think all these early starts are catching up on me (I was up at 4:30am this morning), as this afternoon I just fell asleep for 2 hours (which is smething i rarely do). I am looking forward to returning to work, so that I can have a lie in....

The Citadel and Old Cairo

After a severe case of achy thighs, caused by all the tomb raiding of the past few days, I have finally managed to pull my finger out and arrange my flight out of Egypt and into Jordan. This is the busy season for the region, as the temperatures are now starting to cool down enough to allow visiting the sites without frying to a crisp.

So, tomorrow I fly out of Cairo and into Amman (the capital of Jordan for a few days visit). I have just not had enough time to do what I wanted and leisurely travel back through Europe, so I am going to catch a flight back out of Cairo on Monday, giving me Tuesday and Wednesday to recover before returning to work.

For my final day in Cairo I decided to go and see the Citadel of Salah-Adin (Saladin), and a sample of the religious buildings in the city. If I am honest, this was a bit of a waste of time, the citadel and old Cairo tour is not really worth doing, although the mosque at the citadel is very impressive.

The first site we visited was called the Hanging church (so named because it is built on top of the Roman water gate). It is a very old church, and is Coptic Christian (those buggers who vandalised all the temples!). Coptics, have a different papacy to Roman Catholics, and on the walls, the tour guide (who was Coptic) delighted in showing us the latest Pope - whose name escapes me. Anyway, the church is very nice, and I usually enjoy visiting churches and castles, but for some reason this place did not hold the same appeal as it once might, having feasted my eyes on ancient temples for the past two weeks.

A token snap of the church, but my heart wasn't in it

After this and only a few yards up the road is the Ben Ezra synagogue. This is a place for Jews to meet and pray. It seems a bit strange that Jews live in such an Islamic city, but there are some, although they are not overt about their Jewry (understandably so I suppose). They really are a small section of the population, as out of the 23 million people living in Cairo, it is estimated only 1,300 are Jewish. We were not allowed to take any photos inside the synagogue, but to be honest I was, once again, not really that enthused in taking pictures of this place anyway.

Finally we moved along to the Citadel, a huge fortress on the top of a mountain looking down over Cairo. On this site is a very impressive mosque, the mosque of Mohammed Ali. Before you ask, no, it is not the mosque of the heavyweight boxing champion of the world, but a completely different fellow, who came here during the Ottoman occupation of Cairo. The mosque is made out of alabaster, and it is a blooming big building, easily competing with the Duomo in Florence, or our own St Paul’s cathedral. The tour guide proudly pronounced that this was the best example of a mosque in the world.

This mosque was actually very impressive, reminded me of Age of Empires

Having not been to many mosques, I can’t comment on the validity of this claim, but I do get a sneaking suspicion that if I went to another Islamic country I could see the best mosque in the world there too!

The view from the citadel down into Cairo

Ok, I am keeping this post short and sweet as I need to be up and out at 4:30am tomorrow in order to get to the airport and over to Jordan. Speak to you all from Jordan.

Cairo at sunset