Leaving our enjoyable Palace visit we continued on our street walk around Malta. It was even warmer than we remembered having been inside the thick stone walls of the palace for an hour or so. Walking up alley ways and down steep steps we came to a small square where we saw a beautiful water fountain that I could not refrain from touching and though its waters were cool and sparkling I didn't risk drinking from it but I sure enjoyed the splashes created. Not from the fountain we happened upon an Anglican Church and decide to visit it. 
St Paul's Anglican Pro-Cathedral was built between 1839 and 1844. It was financed by Queen Victoria's aunt, Queen Adelaide the wife of King William lV. St Paul's is built in the Neo- classic style which is why it feels simple , refreshingly, airy, spacious, uncluttered,
open and full of light. It has been built with Maltese limestone, with Corinthian columns in the main area and six Ionic inspired columns around the portico area. It really is a delightfully pleasant building. It's spire being over 60 metres high can be seen all over Malta and has become a Valletta landmark.
The church has incredibly almost 'perfect' acoustics due to its design so very often the venue is hired for concerts, plays and operas. This income has made it possible for St Paul's to replace its aging and leaking roof. Next year the parishes planning to have the huge pipe organ retuned and cleaned. You will probably notice some flags of the Commonwealth of nations in the church which welcomes people from all nations and creeds.
Ken spent some time talking to a local parishioner who volunteers at the church to welcome tourists to Malta's Protestant Church. Most people in Malta attend the Roman Catholic Services but there is a growing number of expats and some locals who attend St Paul's and their weekly Bible Study sessions. We also visited the massive crypt which lies below the church building. It has been painted and 'modernised' and now provides a Sunday School classroom, a teen den area, a short video nook retelling the history of Malta and St Paul's and a coffee shop which is open to tourists. We were pleased to cool off in this cellar area and after watching the video we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea of home baked Maltese apple pie and icecream and Maltise coffee- yum!
We had just one last tourist attraction to visit before heading back to the ship. We had almost circumnavigated the Valletta area of Malta by about 3.30PM so we descended even more ancient stone staircases and found ourselves walking along the coastal walkway that passed through residential areas and small fishing shanty huts. We really enjoyed this leisurely stroll past multi-storey, narrow, stone houses,attached to one another, each with Maltese-style wood'n-glass patios. Invariably these patios displayed fluttering, colourful laundry motifs - so 'Maltese'. Sometimes when we looked up a narrow alleyway we'd see that the whole airspace between the rows of buildings was filled with the neighbourhoods linen, undies, shirts and dresses. Not something we see too often in Wollongong.
The breeze from the harbour was refreshing and every now and the a friendly face greeted us with a smile.
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