From the top of the cliff road we spotted our final venue to visit. Malta's Fort St. Elmo complex built high on the headland rock platform above the natural Grand Harbour. We'd seen the Fort and harbour early in the morning as we headed for our mooring at Port Valletta. It looked solid, imposing and very golden yellow with the reflection of the morning sunlights' rays.
The Fort (and two others we could see across the harbour from one of the towers) is solidly built with thick walls, parapets, towers , mazes of tunnels, ammunition cellars and high walls.
The fort is strategically located at the harbour entrance so that any would be invaders were seen long before any attempt to enter the harbour could be made The height of towers and walls provided excellent vantage points from which to ambush ships below.
Malta played a unique role during both WW1 and WWII.maltese officers and soldiers fought alongside British and Imperial forces with skill and bravery.
Malta's strategic position in the world and it's safe and "hidden" harbour has made it a military hub in different periods over the years. It became an essential fueling station and a defender of the Suez Canal route during the war years.
The French navy and some of Britain's fleet, used Malta as a base to patrol the Mediterranean with Maltese fishermen providing important information of enemy ships they sighted on their fishing ventures. Many of Malta's women and older men played a significant part in providing labour and food production for those at war. Malta was almost flattened at different stagesi in the war but their resilient island war volunteers rebuilt and restored damaged areas as soon as it was safe to do so and sometimes "over night" restorations happened without any observation - such was the cohesive unity of the Maltese islanders.
Malta was also used as a Prisoner of War base for both German soldiers and some high ranking officers, in both world wars so we have much to thank Malta for.
Then in 1956 when Egypt's .leader, Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal and Britain and France tried to stop him, Malta once again took a pivotal base for the largest fleet to have ever gathered to protect the seas and for Britain's airforce, Malta provided the perfect launching pad for patrolling aircraft and jet fighters.
Today the fort is a huge Military Museum. There are at least 16 different buildings housing military uniforms and weapons from various 'modern day ' wars. Some other exhibits include: interactive displays, films, models and timelines with photographs and descriptive narratives about various battles. The museums were very well organised in that each exhibition building covered certain war dates so that visitors could choose to cover aspects of interest or they could visit the fort over several days and not become overwhelmed with such an extensive and comprehensive amount of information.
As we were at the end of our one day in Malta we did not have the luxury of spending several days to explore all the exhibits but we did gain some idea of the very unique and lifesaving role that Malta has played in Australia having the freedom that we all enjoy today.
We spent about 50 minutes in this fort complex but hen it was time to get back to the Sea Princess before she pulled anchor for another port.
Leaving the fort we stood on the cliff top and looked over the harbour at the small fishing boats, tiny sailing skiffs, launches and yatchts flitting across the open waters. As we headed down the roadway we passed a tiny inlet where some tourists and locals were having a refreshing swim in the crystal clear greenish esters. We were feeling quite warm as we hurried towards the ship and we were looking forwarded to a long cup of tea on board ship. However it did cross our minds that we could go for a dip "in our sweaty clothes but it would have to be a quick dip" in the end we decided against this as it was thwart with all kinds of 'problems' - lack of time being the biggest. Problem. With one last glance at the gleeful swimmers we descended the pathway down to the shoreline and after entering the tunnel hewn out of solid rock we could see our ship just ahead of us.
Whew! We'd made it in time!
We had fitted SO much into this day on Malta. We'd learnt SO many new facts about life on Malta in the past and had SO many new cultural experiences that we were in overload. Our photo history would be a great way of recalling and reliving our marvellous Malta meanderings
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