Magnificant Malta.

 Our last trip of the year, and graduation trip for Papa that Mama had spent so much time researching/budgeting/planning for was finally here! Malta attracted us first by its primacy as a Catholic country and its glorious churches, its being a Biblical site - where St. Paul shipwrecked and converted the Roman governor - by having English as its second language, by its beautiful scenery and sea for swimming, and by its low travel costs! We had a nice two hour flight to Malta, during which the boys napped the whole time=score.

 First view of the Maltese Islands!

 Coming in for a landing. Most of inland Malta looks like this; dry land, cactus, dessert flowers, farm plots, quarries. The coast boasts beautiful turquoise bays, stunning cliffs, colorful fishing boats, and amazing rock formations.  

 On our first evening, we picked up some eats from the grocery store and went to eat down at a bay near St. Jullian's where we stayed.

We made good use of the public buses which were a cheap 1.20 per adult day ticket! On our first day, we visited a few towns and churches. Above is the Mosta Dome Church or Miracle Church, so called because in April 1942 during WWII, two 110 lb bombs fell on the church during Mass. One bomb bounced off, and the other pierced the dome and rolled across the floor but did not detonate, and none of the 300 people inside were harmed. It is the 4th largest unsupported dome in the world and the 3rd largest in Europe and was designed following the plans of the Pantheon in Rome.

Pretending to sleep on a cannon.

 

The main altars in Malta churches hold huge tabernacles and candles, and most feature a large sunburst behind.

The stations of the cross settings were so beautiful and eye-catching.

A exact-to-size replica of the bomb.

Most of Malta outside the bigger cities looks like this.

Parish church of St. Helen covered in frescoes depicting St. Helen's life and her finding the true cross.

These boys love running on the ramps.

Afternoon at Golden Bay on the west side of Malta.

One day we headed to Valletta, the capital of Malta. In the midst of the hour bus trip with many stops, we spotted ferries that crossed the bay right to Valletta; it wasn't a hard decision to spontaneously exit the bus and take the breezier, more scenic option!

One of the monasteries that guard the bay.

 

We loved the colorful accents of the Maltese buildings. 

 

 And the Christian symbols, statues and plaques all over the place!

Paschal flag.

Signs of the once-upon-a-time rule of Great Britain are still around.

The Co-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was built between 1573-1578. Pure Baroque glory!

 

The floors are inlaid with about 400 tombstones commemorating the most illustrious knights from the Order of St. John, dating from the early 17th century to the 19th.

 

Many of the tombs featured skeletal pictures and Latin inscriptions all over the place.

Poor Michael had gotten the chills from staying in the water too long the day before, so he took it easy.

 

The Auberge de Castille. Originally, it housed the administrative divisions for the Knights Hospitaller, and today is the office of the Prime Minister of Malta. 

Upper Barrakka Gardens which is built on a bastion and offers stunning views of the Valletta harbor.

 

 Malta is a cruise port and we saw a few cruise ships make berth and exit.

 

St. George's Square in between the building of the guards and the Palace of the Grand Master.

Coutyard of the Palace of the Grand Master.

 

Sadly, the state rooms were closed the day we went, as they are still used for political business, so we visited the armory.

 

Amour suit for a more portly gentleman, we summarized.

Michael still gets excited to watch street sweepers and the garbage men in every new place we visit...

 

Church of St. Paul's Shipwreck. This church has origins here from 1570, but the current building was begun in 1639.

We were so in awe of the beauty of the tabernacles!

This church holds the most precious relic of the Maltese people; the right wrist bone of St. Paul.

A portion of the column upon which St. Paul was beheaded in Rome.

In many of the churches, the canopy and priest's humeral veil stand at the ready in a side chapel for the many Eucharistic processions held throughout the year. Such a testimony to devotion!

Heading up to the overlook of Malta's Grand Harbor and the 10 ton Great Siege bell which memorizes those who lost their lives during the Great Siege of Malta from 1940-1943..

 Lower Barrakka Gardens

Michael Joseph at 3 years.

Dominic Gerard at 19 months.

Leaving the lower city by the old Victoria Gate. 

We had to take this giant of an elevator back to the top of the city.

 

Morning excursion to Rabat and Mdina; waiting for the bus and admiring the flowering cacti. 

The decorations for Corpus Christi were still up in Rabat.

 

Descending into St. Paul's Grotto; the cave where St. Paul lived for 3 months after shipwrecking on Malta in the midst of his journey to stand for trial in Rome.

 

There it was - the highlight of our trip! There was no one else there, so we stayed as long as we wanted for prayer and exploration. St. Paul, pray for us!
"Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, on which they planned if possible to bring the ship ashore...But striking a shoal they ran the vessel aground...After we had escaped, we then learned that the island was called Malta. And the natives showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all."
Acts 27:39-41, 28:1-2

Then we explored the small maze of Christian catacombs.

 

Across the street from Rabat is the path leading to the walled city of Mdina, which was the original capitol of Malta until the mid 1500's. Underneath Mdina, lies the remains of 6 other civilizations; the first believed to be Neolithic from 6000 years ago. When Valletta was built, people left Mdina to move to the larger, more affluent city-turned-capitol, and now about only 300 people reside in Mdina, so it is nicknamed "The Silent City". We really enjoyed getting lost in the hushed, walled maze of streets in this town.

 

St. Paul's Cathedral which was built over the site of the house of Publius, the Roman governor, who converted to Christianity during St. Paul's stay and later became the first bishop of Malta. 

"Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery; and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They presented many gifts to us; and when we sailed, they put on board whatever we needed."

Acts 28:7-10 

 

The Carmelite church.

 

We hopped up on the ramparts for a nice view of the valley.

 

 An exhibit on the Knights of Malta.

Afternoon at Mehilia Bay - we enjoyed the wind and waves so so much!

 

There is quite a bit of WW II history in Malta as well, although we didn't take time to check any of the bunkers or museums out.

 

 Mehilia parish church.

This was one of the 2 frustrating experiences we had with the public bus system. At rush hour, buses would be filled with people going home from work and if a bus was too full, the driver wouldn't stop, and the transit system does not seem to send out extra buses at this time.

After 5 days in Malta, we returned to the airport to pick up a rental car for a few days on the 2nd largest island, Gozo. The cars here are tiny!! Thankfully, our wonderful stroller easily breaks down into 4 parts and we were able to fit everything inside!

 

Yes, the driver sits on the right side here, as in England! Andrew was glad he already had the practice from last year, and is quite adept at it now, especially handling the round-a-bouts - maybe a little too adept for my nerves. ;) We proceeded to head north along the coast to the ferry port.

We stopped at the fishing village of Marsalox, where each Sunday, a large open-air market is held. We walked through a small portion, but we weren't in Malta for shopping and enjoyed the colorful fishing boat scenery much more.

"Mama! I found boats that are small like me!"

Andrew with St. Andrew, patron saint of fishermen, Apostle, martyr.

 

Driving along the Dingli Cliffs, windy and wavy.

 

...and then headed inland a bit. We saw quite a few vineyards and terraced fields, and aqueducts, which range in date anywhere from the Roman period to the 1800's.

 

We took some of the narrow roads fenced in by brush and rock walls for fun; shorter distance, but slower travel and off the beaten path. Always so wonderful to see so many reminders of our Christian faith everywhere.

 

There are some lovely bays up towards the north side. For such a small place, the variability of nature and water colors of Malta never cease to surprise or disappoint! We passed so many neat little bays that would be fun to explore and swim!

 

Overlooking Anchor Bay, and the set of Popeye which was never taken down after being built for the 1980 movie of Popeye the sailor man. Now, one can invest in a day pass which allows you to tour the set and water-play in the bay, but we just enjoyed the view from above. Now, I'll have to watch the movie! Rest in peace, Robin Williams. 

Then...we were at the northern coast and at the ferry crossing to Gozo.

The small island of Comino sits between Malta and Gozo, which features the famous Blue Lagoon, which we will have to explore next time!

About to land on Gozo...another post for another day!

A taste of Calvary.

The day after graduation (that post will come later), we took the night train towards Turin, Italy to go pray before the Shroud of Christ, which is only displayed for veneration every 4-5 years; how blessed we felt to be in Europe at this time! This was to be the start of our little family vacation/Papa's graduation trip in Malta. (Ryan Air flies super cheap to Malta from Turin, btw!)

Our little Dominic was a fine spirits and both boys slept soundly the whole night. The kind conductor moved us to a compartment that we could have all to ourselves! Thankful.

 A little tired but ready for the day's adventure! We had to switch trains in Milan, so hopped over to get a glimpse of the Duomo piazza during our little layover.

 

The minute our feet hit Italian soil, Michael started clamoring for gelato - his memory is a little too good sometimes. So, we had berry gelato for brunch.

Then it was back to the station for the 2 hour train ride to Turin = nap time for the boys.

We dropped our things at our hotel before heading over to the Shroud exhibition. We were thrilled to meet up with our friend from Ave Maria Univeristy/Miami, Krystelle, who was in the midst of her 100 day Marian pilgrimage in Europe. The boys took a liking to her right away.

The walk through security and on the designated path was like a little pilgrimage in itself in length! We were there on a weekday and breezed right through with no wait, but they have been handling huge crowds on the weekends.

Then we arrived at the front of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, where the Shroud is preserved. We watched a short video explaining the location of Christ's wounds made visible on the Shroud. It was a very solemn, silent video, which set the tone for the relic we were about to see.

Entering the church, the tomb of Blessed Pier Gorgio Frassati was on our left. We said a quick prayer at this Italian's tomb that all young Christians might have the courage and perseverance to live Christianity as he did.

Then we were ushered in front of the Shroud for our 4 minute viewing. It was hard at first, to grasp the significance of what lay before our eyes, but how can one truly fathom the gift of Christ's body sacrificed for the salvation of us poor, wretched sinners?

Here on the left, you can see how the Shroud covered Christ's front; the crossed hands are visible, and Christ's chest and head above them.

This 15th century painting depicts how the Shroud covered Christ according to the outline of Christ's body and wound markings.

Here are some negatives made from the imprints of the Shroud.

The wounds and blood caused by the crown of thorns is plainly visible here. Despite Dominic clamoring "Jesus, Jesus" the whole time, it was a very moving experience to breathe a few humble prayers in front of our Lord's burial shroud - wow.

I wanted to share this shot of Pope Francis' visit to the Shroud, two weekends after we were there.

The next morning, I got up early and popped in Our Lady Help of Christians Basilica. We had tried twice to enter the day before, but it was chalk full of private pilgrim Masses for the Salesians coming to visit the tomb of their founder, St. John Bosco. Don Bosco, whose official Church title is "Father and Teacher of Youth" worked mainly to educate abandoned boys and struggling families. He followed what he called his "preventative system": reason, religion, and kindness, with a good mix of music and games thrown in.

Beautiful church full of Marian imagery.

The remains of St. Dominic Savio, a young boy who was mentored by Don Bosco, and hoped to become a priest but died at age 14. He lived a life of heroic virtue and holiness. Don Bosco's own mother said of Dominic, "You have many good boys, but none can match the good heart and soul of Dominic Savio. I see him so often at prayer, staying in church after the others; every day he slips out of the playground to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament. When he is in church he is like an angel living in Paradise."

 

The tomb and remain of St. John Bosco.

Pray for us parents and teachers, who wish to help our children become holy.

The Salesian center where Don Bosco lived and worked and below is the courtyard where Don Bosco played ball with the boys.

What a nice visit in Turin - happy to know we will be seeing Miss Krystelle down the road again in her travels! We were off to the airport and Malta and she was off to Rome.