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Malta: Day 9: Towers, Fort Madliena, Għargħur, Victoria Lines and Mosta

While no longer tied to the United Kingdom officially, the Maltese still keep to the British tradition of driving on the “wrong” side of the road. Although locals drive according to their own rules, they had quite good behavior towards the cyclists.

On our last day with the mountain bikes we headed southeast and explored the area around Għargħur and Mosta.

Previous days of our trip to Malta: Day 8, Day 7, Day 6, Day 5, Day 4, Day 3,  Day 2 and Day 1.

Coastal road towards Valletta

View to our peninsula

 

Torri ta' San Mark on Qrejten Point was completed in 1658 as the third of the De Redin towers.

White Rocks was built in 1960 by the British forces and known as St. Patrick’s Officers Married Quarters. When the military personnel left Malta the complex was gradually converted into a holiday complex. The complex was last run by the Secretariat for Tourism and was providing accommodation for language students during the summer months until 1995. It's been abandoned for quite some years and has fallen into disrepair.

Madliena Tower (Maltese: Torri tal-Madliena), originally known as Torre della Paulina was completed in 1658. The British built an artillery battery next to the tower in 1908–1909, and the tower and battery remained in use until World War II.

 

The majority of those interred and remembered at the Pembroke Military Cemetery are casualties of the two World Wars (but mainly the Second World War), many in communal graves.

Fort Madalena is surrounded by a 6-metre deep and 4-metre wide ditch.

Through Madliena Woods around the fort

 

Fort Madalena was built by the British as part of the Victoria Lines, a line of fortifications along the northern part of Malta, dividing it from the more heavily populated south. It was built on the site of a fifteenth century chapel dedicated to Mary Magdalene, which gave the fort its name. Construction of the pentagonal fort began in 1878 and was completed in 1880.

Entrance to Fort Madliena

Although the Victoria Lines were abandoned in 1907, Fort Madalena, remained in use for coastal defence.

The Arched Bridge over Wied id-Dis took us closer to Għargħur

 

The chapel "Santa Maria taz-Zellieqa" was built around 1560. A legend says that it was built by a young woman after she had a vision of Holy Mary after which she was healed of her sickness.

On the outskirts of the hilltop village of Għargħur is Malta’s smallest "church". The mini-church started out as a shrine in the late 1950s in the corner of a field owned by fireworks manufacturer Bertu Fenech. Together with his friend Karmnu Micallef, Bertu wanted to give thanks to Our Lady of Sorrows for keeping him safe from harm while preparing fireworks. The mini-church which stands at just over 2.5 m in height comes complete with wooden doors, twin bell-towers with mini bells inside and replica mini street lanterns on either side of the building.

A niche housing the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows was also built nearby.

Għargħur is a characteristic rural village, one of the smallest villages in Malta, with an area of just 2 square kilometers naturally delineated and separated from surrounding localities. It remains a perfect example of a typical Maltese village with rural and agricultural surroundings.

Panorama from one of the view points

Place called  "Top of the World" offers a good view

 

Gharghur's origins are said to date since the times of the Biblical deluge although, of course, historic remains only indicate as far back as Roman and Punic times. There are also indications that cave dwellers lived in the caves.

On this place we were looking for dragon family

Steep way back

Another view from the "Top of the World"

 

Along Victoria Lines we found the dragon egg

 

The Victoria Lines, sometimes unofficially known as the Great Wall of Malta, were built by the British military in the late 19th century. The line was designed to present a physical barrier to invading forces landing in the north of Malta, intent on attacking the harbour installations, so vital for the maintenance of the British fleet, their source of power in the Mediterranean.

 

Riding past the Church of the Nativity of Mary in Naxxar

Country calling code is +356

Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady (Maltese: Bażilika ta' Santa Marija), commonly known as the Rotunda of Mosta. The design of the present church is based on the Pantheon in Rome, and at one point had the third largest unsupported dome in the world. 

 

The church narrowly avoided destruction during World War II, since on 9 April 1942 a German aerial bomb pierced the dome and fell into the church during Mass but failed to explode. This event was interpreted by the Maltese as a miracle. One version of so called miracle goes like this: When a bomb disposal squad opened the device it was found to be filled with sand instead of explosives and contained a note saying "greetings from Plzeň" from the workers at Škoda Works in the German-occupied Czechoslovakia who had allegedly sabotaged its production.

 

Rotunda took 27 years to build and was designed by a French designer who resided in Mosta, George Grognet de Vasse.

 

Although small, the shelter still has the most important elements of any other wartime bomb refuge. This one, for instance, has multiple exit and entry points - four in all.

 

Interestingly enough, the shelter was not always the first option for the Maltese fleeing the streets as the Germans bombed their island. In the beginning, people would seek shelter inside the Mosta church. For some reason they believed that the place where the coffins used to be stored was actually safer. They soon realised that while the church provided spiritual shelter, it could could not protect them from the bombs.

 

Unlike in other places, the rock here was very hard – not easy to dig.

 

Small shelter, short visit, so we were back on our bikes soon.

The Rotunda of Mosta is built in the neoclassical style. Its façade has a portico with six Ionic columns, which is flanked by two bell towers. Being a rotunda, the church has a circular plan with walls about 9.1 m thick supporting a dome with an internal diameter of 37.2 m.

Speranza Chapel is situated at the Speranza Valley. A legend tied to the Chapel recounts that, during a Turkish invasion, a young girl and her sisters taking care of their family's sheep were at risk to be taken by the invaders. While the sisters escaped, the young girl could not run fast enough because she limped slightly. It is said that she hid in a cave (found under the Chapel, on its left side), and meanwhile she prayed to Mary, mother of Jesus, promising that if she were saved, she would build a chapel dedicated to Our Lady. When the Turkish invaders chasing her arrived, they didn't look for her in the cave because they thought the girl could not be hiding there as there was an intact web at the entrance, which would have not been so if someone had gone in.

Speranza Valley

 

Even if the concept of rubbish collection has been around for centuries now, it seems like many Maltese people still struggle with some of the most important concepts of this phenomenon.

Short detour on our way back to Buġibba

Late night fishing

Young crab

2 legged crab

Mountain biking in Malta #3

GeoCaches found (all received a visit by trackable items "Norway", TB6QQTT, "Der Kleine Maulwurf", TB61FZ4, "gran san bernardo", TB84C9J, "De reiziger", TB6R4VV and "FarmtagZ klompendans", TB6BAG2 until one was dropped off):
- Guarding the tower, GC2N0ZE
- Madliena Woods, GCV2N8
- The Wedding Chapel Cache, Multi, GC3XBCY
- Dragons Of Għargħur, Letterbox Hybrid, GC3FPWG, where I dropped off trackable item "Norway", TB6QQTT
- Wied Anglu, EarthCache, GC5DA8M
- Bonus Cache Dragons of Għargħur, Mystery, GC3FPXR
- London Calling, Mystery, GC7PBR0
- Church Close, GC1PKGQ
- Rotunda Multi, Multi, GC7WAWP
- The Crazy Cacher, Mystery, GC4947T
- L'Île au trésor (Treasure Island), GC2ETA7
- Malta Puzzel, Mystery, GC68J66