Category Archives: Places

Lascaris War Rooms, Valletta

Our excellent guide Tony showing us through the Lascaris War Rooms in Valletta. Here he’s explaining how the island was defended

The Lascaris War Rooms were Malta’s best kept secret of the Allied forces World War II efforts. They’re a series of tunnels and chambers dug some 150m into the bedrock of Valletta – by hand and mostly at night – that were used as the Allied HQ for the invasion of Sicily on the 9^th of July 1943, 11 months before the D-Day landings of Normandy on the 6^th of June 1944.

The name ‘Lascaris’ comes from Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, a descendant of the Greek Byzantine emperors of the same name – yes, the same Byzantine Empire that had Istanbul (nee Constantinople) as its capital – who was elected Grand Master of the Order St John (the same knights who built the Co-Cathedral). After a year in office Grand Master Lascaris ordered the construction of defensive towers along the coastline of Malta, one of which you’ve already seen as it’s the sunset picture at the end of our Dingli Cliffs walk.

After the British took control of the Maltese Islands in 1800, they extended the fortifications built by the Knights, and in 1854 started the Lascaris Fort and Battery – a defensive platform for cannon which overlooks the southern harbour of Valletta, so named because they were built on the site of Lascaris’ former private garden.

View of Fort Lascaris and the Lascaris Battery from the other side of the harbour. The Battery is the row of arches right in the middle, and the Lascaris War Rooms are underneath the giant wall just in front, with Fort Lascaris sitting on the waterfront – the high walls with two rows of small defensive windows

When Italy declared war on France and Great Britain on the 10^th of June 1940, work started to enlarge the tunnel that ran from Fort Lascaris up to the main ditch in Valletta which was originally dug by the Knights, as the island needed bomb shelters. Soon rooms were carved out and as there was need for a central place to coordinate war efforts in the Mediterranean, the Allied HQ moved in.

The upper corridor of the Lascaris War Rooms, they carved out two floors of rooms and decorated it with scrap material from bombed houses. All of the metal was recovered from ships sunk in the harbour

The upper corridor of the Lascaris War Rooms, they carved out two floors of rooms and decorated it with scrap materials from bombed houses such as the floor tiles. All of the metal was recovered from ships sunk in the harbour

When I mentioned earlier that Malta has had a surprisingly long and eventful history for such a tiny landmass, this was what I was referring to – we had no idea of the pivotal role that Malta played in the events of World War II. The story of these tunnels and command rooms is absolutely fascinating, and expertly brought to life by the amazing restoration work and by the simply outstanding storytelling guide Tony – whose father helped dig them!

The office of Admiral Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief of the British naval forces, looks out over the command room of Operation Husky

We got to the museum early on a week day, and I’d recommend you do the same – especially as we visited in the middle of off-peak November. The tour begins with a short Pathé newsreel broadcast of a supply convoy’s journey from Britain to Malta which showed the logistical and life-threatening challenge of keeping strategically important Malta defended. There were only ever enough supplies to last 3 months, and if just two of these convoys didn’t make it in succession then the island would have had no choice but to surrender.

The museum opens with an Associated British Pathe newsreel story about a supply convoy from Britain to Malta

The museum opens with an Associated British Pathé newsreel story about the supply convoys from Britain to Malta

After the video, the audioguide took us through the rooms and rather dryly explained what each room was used for and who was stationed there, but when we got to the first of the main rooms – command room for the offensive Operation Husky, Tony picked up the commentary and started filling in the history with anecdotes of the various commanders and their rivalries.

The heart of Operation Husky, the massive plan of the invasion of Sicily and the start of the Allied offensive campaign against the Axis in World War II

When a tour group arrived he apologised and left to meet them, so we continued through the narrow corridors and past the second major room, the defensive situation room where attacks on Malta were tracked and squadrons of aeroplanes were organised to defend the island.

The defence command and situation room. The board at the back (top-right) records the state of the 12 defensive flying squadrons and the big map in the middle records the last confirmed location of enemy aircraft

Pretty soon we heard Tony again as he was showing the group around the maze of tunnels so we decided we’d tag along! While the audioguide had told us what the squadron board was for in the island defence command room, Tony filled in the details of how the squadrons were rotated. Because radar was crude and aeroplanes were slow to climb by todays standards, it was too late to scramble them to intercept bombers so constant air cover was used. This decision, with the limitations of fighter aircraft having a maximum 90-odd minutes of flight time, meant they had to launch new squadrons every 15 minutes! It took each squadron 30 minutes to get up to altitude, and another 15 to get down which meant they could provide about 30 to 45 minutes of cover before they had to return to refuel. Imagine the effort of the ground crew preparing for 12 aircraft taking off and another landing every 15 minutes. Astounding.

The defensive squadron situation room sits behind the squadron board shown in the last photo above - it's a series of slats that the operators on this side update with little metal tags as new information comes in

The defensive squadron situation room sits behind the squadron board shown in the last photo above – it’s a series of angled slats that the operators on this side update with little metal tags as new information comes in

From there we returned to the heart of Operation Husky, the room where General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder planned their attack on Sicily. Tony told us how Eisenhower had great trouble getting the two large egos of the American and British commanders to work together and in the end decided to give them the same objective but start them from different beaches – a tactic that brought out their competitiveness and which Eisenhower used again in the D-Day landings – no British and American forces landed on the same beach in either operation.

One of the telephone switchboards in a small communications room. Every time we see one of these manual switchboards I can’t help but remark that my Mum used to operate one like it when she started working – not one quite this old, mind you!

Recognised as strategically important to the outcome of the war, the Axis forces ran more than 3,000 bombing raids in 2 years over Malta, making it the most intensively bombed area of the conflict. For maintaining control of Malta, King George VI awarded the nation the George Cross for Gallantry, the first time in history it was bestowed to a collective.

The George Cross for Gallantry awarded to the people of Malta and which adorns the nation’s flag. The accompanying letter reads: “The Governor, Malta. To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history. George R.I. April 15th 1942”

After World War II the Lascaris War Rooms continued to be used by the British as their Mediterranean Fleet HQ until 1967 when NATO took over to use them as a Communications Centre for the interception of Soviet submarine transmissions during the Cold War. NATO also added a lot more rooms on the other side of tunnel and they’re currently being restored to be opened to the public in 2015 as a Cold War Museum right opposite the WWII Lascaris War Rooms. It would be equally fascinating to return to Valletta to visit these more modern bunkers, especially as we’ve seen their Soviet equivalent in Latvia earlier in our trip!

St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta

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Like many of Europe’s medieval cities, Malta’s capital Valletta is fairly compact and surrounded by walls. Unlike most of the other cities which retain their walls e.g. York, Bruges, Tallinn, here the walls are not surrounded by modern city, because on three sides Valletta’s walls are bounded by the sea.

Valletta’s southern walls meet the sea

The Knights Hospitaller, or Order of St John, was formed in the 11th century as a Christian military order. In 1530 they established themselves on Malta and ruled the island nation for 268 years until it was taken by Napoleon. In the centre of their fortified capital the Knights built St John’s Co-Cathedral, dedicated to the patron saint of their order. It is called Co-Cathedral as it has equal status on the island with St Paul’s Cathedral in the inland fortified city of Mdina, the seat of the Bishop of Malta, although this wasn’t the case until the 1820s.

The exterior of St John’s Co-Cathedral is rather plain and currently undergoing restoration

Inside, the cathedral is pretty much the exact opposite of its austere exterior and it seems that every surface is covered with some form of decoration. Whether painted, gilded, carved or inlaid it’s quite an assault on the eyes. The nave is barrel vaulted and each of the six ceiling bays contains three scenes from the life of St John painted by Mattia Preti, unusually using oil based paints directly on the stone.

The spectacular nave with its painted ceiling

The High Altar is even more extravagant than the rest of the interior adorned with various gifts from Grand Masters and high-ranking knights who seem to have been trying to outdo each other by contributing rare marbles and exquisite carvings. The huge Sanctuary lamp hanging at the front of the space is made of solid silver!

The High Altar is the centrepiece of the interior

Along each side of the nave are eight equally elaborately decorated chapels. The Knights were gathered from all across Europe and each of these chapels is dedicated to one of the ‘langues’ or places of origin. It was interesting to try to spot the details which tied the chapels back to the original country, for example, the double headed eagle emblem in the German chapel, or the fleur-de-lys in the French one.

Chapel of Aragon; we weren’t sure exactly where Aragon was and were interested to find that it is an autonomous community in northern Spain

Each chapel has its own altar along with magnificent marble tombs of the langue’s distinguished knights.

Chapel details (clockwise from top left): tomb in the French Chapel; even the ‘plain’ walls are covered with gilded carvings; altar in the Italian Chapel; Spanish Chapel altarpiece

Of all the Cathedral’s magnificence, for us the highlight was definitely the floor. It’s completely made up of gravestones, and not just normal grey gravestones with carved inscriptions, these are brightly coloured pictures often containing crests, weaponry and skeletons as well as an inscription, all made up of inlaid marble in an amazing variety of colours.

Inlaid marble gravestones cover the floor of St John’s Co-Cathedral

The audio guide route ends with the cathedral’s museum. In the first room of which, the Oratory, are two paintings by Caravaggio. Caravaggio seems to have been quite a troubled figure, he was quite famous in Rome during his lifetime but was forced to flee after killing a man in a brawl. Arriving in Malta he became a knight and carried out several commissions on the island before landing in prison again, this time for injuring a fellow knight in a fight. The two works in the Oratory are dramatic and show his innovative use of light to illuminate the central figures while leaving much of the scene in darkness.

‘The Beheading of St John the Baptist’ by Caravaggio [photo credit: St John’s Co-Cathedral]

The rest of the museum is devoted to the set of enormous 17th century Flemish tapestries which are hung in the nave for special occasions (e.g. when the Pope visited), several beautiful illuminated choral books, various items of ecclesiastical clothing and a few paintings.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the cathedral and trying to take in all of the artwork and spot details (like an elephant on one of the gravestones). In contrast, we saw several groups from the cruise ships which dock in Malta being led in by their guide, doing a quick circuit around the nave and exiting through the gift shop. It seems a shame that they miss out on so much of this showcase of the Knights’ splendour.

Megalithic Malta: A walk along Dingli Cliffs to prehistoric temples

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Sitting in the Mediterranean Sea closer to Sicily in the North than Libya and Tunisia to the south, Malta has had a surprisingly long and eventful history for such a tiny landmass of only 315km² (112 square miles).

Despite its small size, or perhaps because of it, Malta is the 3^rd most densely populated country or sovereign state in Europe (after Monaco and Gibraltar) and 8^th most in the world – though it magically maintains a desolate, isolated feel as we found out on our first stroll along a section of its south-western coastline.

The walk: Dingli, Fawwara, and Wied iż-Żurrieq

Map of the Dingli Cliffs walk. Source: Malta Tourism Authority

The map of the Dingli Cliffs walk. The Malta Tourism Authority helpfully provide paper versions in all of the Tourist Information offices (including the airport), and online in PDF format too. Source: Malta Tourism Authority

Looking at the map we thought we were in for a long stroll, until we remembered that the entire coastline of Malta is only 196.8km (122 miles) which means this walk is an easy 11.2km, or about 7 miles.

Looking back towards the start of the walk at Dingli Cliffs. Not bad for a day in November

Just past a couple of radar stations at the highest point of the island, we arrived at St Mary Magdalene Church, an isolated, simple place of worship teetering on the cliff edge.

Tranquil reflection at St Mary Magdalene Church on the edge of Dingli Cliffs

Described as 'Cart Ruts', these man-made grooves in the garigue weren't actually created by carts - the truth is we just don't know how or why they were made!

Described as ‘Cart Ruts’, these man-made grooves in the garigue weren’t actually created by carts – the truth is no-one knows how or why they were made!

From the roadside path it looked like a sheer drop into the Mediterranean from the rocky edge, but when we ventured closer we found that while there was a drop that would probably sting a little bit, there’s a second terraced plateau with yet another sizeable drop-off before the sea. Most of this was given over to agriculture, with the odd house or church between the fields.

Looking south over the cultivated fields of Fawwara from a Bronze Age village site that juts out almost to the sea

According to the map, there’s an old Bronze Age village site at Fawwara but all that we could discern from the remains was its natural vantage point that extends out from the cliffs almost to the sea, commanding amazing views up and down the coastline.

From here we descended to the lower plateau and continued south to within a kilometre or two of the end where we stopped at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra – 2 prehistoric temple sites and outdoor museum..

Megalithic Malta: The temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra

Us at the entrance to Hagar Qim, the 5,000 year-old monolithic temples. I'm listening to the audioguide which poses more questions about the site and its purpose than it answers

Us at the entrance to Ħaġar Qim, the 5,000 year-old megalithic temples. I’m listening to the audioguide which poses more questions about the site and its purpose than it answers

Before we explored the remains of the temples, we wandered through the small but excellent museum, which, given how little is known about the origins of these temples and the peoples that built them, is mostly given over to how we think they were built, how they were rediscovered, and how they’re being preserved.

Here’s a short excerpt from the museum’s guide:

“The prehistoric site of Ħaġar Qim consists of a group of monumental megalithic buildings. These were built during the late Neolithic, around 5,000 years ago. Similar buildings have been found in more than twenty different places in Malta and Gozo. Today these buildings are usually called “temples”. However we know very little about what went on inside them.” – Ħaġar Qim Temples, a brief guide, Heritage Malta

Inside the museum. The 2 models show how the temples are aligned with the equinoxes and solstices

The museum includes a 10 minute “4D” introduction video experience – the 4th dimension being blasts of cold air and scented water droplets – alongside the 3D visuals that imagine the construction through to the present day ruins. It was well done and the visuals were good as they show the temples against the landscape, which isn’t possible to see anymore because there’s now a giant protective tent over each temple shielding the stone from the elements.

Some of the stones used in the construction are simply massive, and reminded us of Stone Henge back home

Some of the stones used in the construction are simply massive, and reminded us of Stonehenge back in England

Ħaġar Qim is the first of two temple sites and is the more impressive for its relative completeness – it’s more compact and the walls are still standing tall. We enjoyed wandering through the ruins, though some sections are roped off we were still surprised how accessible they were. The audioguide was only €2 more and is good for pointing out the most interesting aspects of the construction, but almost every clip ends with a “what do you think this was for?” or “why do you think this is here?” which left us with more questions than answers!

Details of Hagar Qim: relief sculptures found during excavations include altar pieces and decorative stone carvings; One of the many altars of the temple but the only one open to the outside

Details of Ħaġar Qim: relief sculptures found during excavations include altar pieces and decorative stone carvings; One of the many altars of the temple but the only one open to the outside

500 metres down the hillside and closer to the cliffs is the 2^nd megalithic temple site of Mnajdra, a much larger set of ruins and in a worse state of repair than Ħaġar Qim.

The approach to the Mnajdra Temples, these too are protected from the rain and the sun by a giant tent

Mnajdra is actually a complex of 3 buildings..

“The first and oldest structure is the small three-apsed temple (on the right), built in the Ġgantija Phase, around 3,600-3,200BC. The South Temple (on the left), with its concave facade was next to be completed early in the Tarxien Phase, shortly after 3,000BC, followed by the Central Temple which was built on an artificial platform between the two earlier buildings.

The South Temple at Mnajdra was built in such a way that its main doorway is aligned with sunrise during the spring and autumn equinoxes (30th March and 22nd September). During the winter and summer solstices (21st June and 21st December) the beams of the rising sun pass along the sides of the main doorway hitting two decorated slabs within the first chamber.” – Mnajdra Temples, a brief guide, Heritage Malta

Inside the first chamber of Mnajdra’s South Temple – during the equinoxes and solstices the sunrise hits the blocks either side of this doorway, again reminding us of Stonehenge. Wow!

The beautiful pitted decoration of another doorway in the South Temple

We liked the different levels and scale of these three very different temples which at first glance just looked like one giant building. The middle temple has the most dramatic example of erosion we’ve seen – the north side of the room shows some damage but the south side is almost completely eroded. I’d have thought they’d have been equally damaged because they’d have received equal rainfall, but the museum explained that it’s the sun that does the most damage!

The north facing wall (left) of the Central Temple is in relatively good condition, but the lower south facing stones (right) of the same room have almost completely eroded. Most surprisingly for me was that the heat of the midday sun has done the most damage

From the museum there was a final downhill stretch to the tiny fishing village of Wied iż-Żurrieq (which we have no idea how to pronounce!), where we watched the sun set while we waited for our bus back to the other side of the island.

The sun sets on our first day of strolling through the countryside and history of the tiny island of Malta

We really enjoyed the feeling of remoteness; to walk so closely to the cliff edge with the deep blue Mediterranean stretching out to the horizon on one side, and a view across the island to the Mediterranean on the other, made Malta feel really small. It’s a very easy walk too, it starts near the highest point of the island which means it’s pretty much all downhill!

Istanbul Round Up

What photo takes you right back to Istanbul?

We visited so many historic mosques in Istanbul and Blue Mosque was one of our favourites.

Summarise Istanbul in three words.

Strolling – Our guidebook of choice is usually the Lonely Planet but Strolling Through Istanbul was perfect for us – we love walking tours, it covered the main sights in much more detail than the LP and was extensive enough that we could use it to get off the beaten track as well. On the downside it wasn’t at all helpful with information on how to get to the start of the walks and the maps could have been clearer.
Mosques – It feels like there’s a mosque around every corner in Istanbul and their domes and minarets (towers) are easily spotted landmarks. When we thought about it though, the density of churches in London, Paris, Venice or York is probably just as high.
Steep – There are lots of hills in Istanbul and streets are often cobbled which makes the going even harder. Most of the places we stayed were accessed only by spiral staircases (no lifts).

You really know you’re in Istanbul when…

…you can spend the morning in Europe and the afternoon in Asia without even leaving the city.

What one item should you definitely pack when going to Istanbul?

Ear plugs. With so many mosques in the city you’re bound to be sleeping within range of one and the first call to prayer is at dawn, which was about 4.40am after the clocks went back. We quite liked the sound of it but maybe not so good if you’re a light sleeper.

A family trip to the Princes’ Islands, Istanbul

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The big downside of being away from home for so long is that we miss our family and friends. Although Skype’s great it’s just not the same as spending time together, especially with our nephews and niece. We’ve been fortunate to have been visited before by Julie’s Mum and Dad (in China) and by our friend Jo (in Vietnam and Uzbekistan), and we were excited to line up another visit in Istanbul, this time from Julie’s sister Steph, brother-in-law Tom and our nephew Olly who was just 12 weeks old when we left on this trip.

Andrew, Tom, Steph and Olly enjoying breakfast in the garden of our rented apartment on their first morning in Istanbul

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very cooperative for much of their 10 day visit with clouds or even outright rain. It seemed that autumn had properly arrived in Istanbul. Still we were able to get out for a few walks, had a go on the slides in the many playparks and chased pigeons wherever we could.

Little and big kids in some of Istanbul’s playparks

Family is very important in Turkey and, in our experience, Turkish people love children (especially super cute and smiley blond haired ones). In every cafe, restaurant or fast food place that we entered, the staff made an effort to find a space for the pushchair, made a fuss of Olly and gave him enough free chips, biscuits and sweets that the rest of us started feeling a bit jealous.

Olly making friends while feeding the pigeons in Hippodrome Square

The weather at last brightened up for our final couple of days together and on the last day we took the ferry from Kabataş to the Princes’ Islands. This archipelago of nine islands lies approximately 20km southeast of the mainland in the Sea of Marmara, but is administratively included in the City of Istanbul. Only six of the islands are inhabited but the ferries, of which there are several each day, only stop at the largest four.

Burgazada, the second ferry stop, seen from the pier

We got off at the final island, Büyükada, which is also the largest and most populous of the group. In summer the population swells as it is a popular holiday destination as well as an easy to reach place for day-trippers. It looks as if the city’s rich might be some of those who retreat there as we saw lots of very large and beautifully kept villas.

Many of the houses on Büyükada are wooden and very large though not all are in such good condition as this beautiful villa

On all of the islands, the only motorised traffic allowed are service vehicles (police, rubbish collection, etc.) so the only ways to get around are on foot, by bicycle or by horse drawn carriage, called fayton. We were ready to stretch our legs after 90 minutes on the ferry and soon noticed that several of the horses pulling faytons looked to be poorly kept so decided to stick to moving under our own steam.

Faytons carrying day-trippers around Büyükada

We set off towards the Monastery of St George and viewpoint on top of the southernmost of the island’s two hills. It was very pleasant walking the streets with no traffic noise, eyeing up the grand villas and waving at all the stray cats (hello miaow!). After we’d left the houses behind we noticed areas of picnic tables under the pine trees. They looked like a perfect place for us to eat the sandwiches that we had brought and we settled ourselves down. We were just about to tuck in when a man approached demanding 3TL per person (just under £1) to sit there. That seemed a bit steep, no wonder all the other tables were empty, so we moved on and ate as we wandered.

Shortly before we were moved on from our picnic table (Olly had already devoured his sandwich and is asleep in his pushchair behind the table)

Having eaten our lunch and checked the distances on the map we realised that we wouldn’t have time to walk up to the monastery and make it back in time for the 3pm ferry so we took the other fork in the road and walked in a loop around to the village.

There are tons of stray cats in Istanbul and Büyükada was no exception. The locals feed them and for the most part they are in very good condition

On the ferry back we were thrilled to see a school of dolphins leaping across the wake of the boat. A fabulous end to our stay in this beautiful city.

Farewell to the Princes’ Islands and to Istanbul

two year trip

Andrew and Julie's Travelling Adventures