The New Barrakka Lift

What’s so special about a lift, I might hear you ask. And, in truth, it is just a lift. But in my mind, it has taken on the aura of a legend. The first Barrakka lift opened its doors to the public in December 1905.

The lift connected the harbour with the city and was a quick and efficient way of getting to Valletta from Lascaris Wharf. In the 1970s the lift was closed down and eventually dismantled. I have a very vague recollection of my father taking me for a ride on the old lift a few months before it was closed. The structure was dismantled in 1983 and all of us that remembered it, however tenuously, talked nostalgically of the lift and its vertiginous trip up and down the fortified walls underneath Upper Barracca Gardens.

With the ever-increasing number of cruise ships berthing at Lascaris Wharf, a decision was taken to re-build a lift in the same place. In December 2012, the new Barrakka lift was inaugurated. The lift is 58 metres high and is connected to the fortifications of Valletta by a bridge. Positioned at the highest point of Valletta, the lift offers a fantastic view of Grand Harbour and the old cities of Bormla, Birgu and Isla.

The view

The lift

At the base (the tunnel leads to the harbour)

Looking up

The original sign from 1905

The quickest link between the harbour and the city has been restored. The legend is reborn.

Location: Barrakka Lift, Upper Barrakka Gardens, Valletta

Snapshots of … An Island

Snapshots of … is a weekly series where the focus will be on the images. Each week I will choose a different place or theme and you will see it through my lens. Some weeks it will give you a better idea of ‘the big picture’, while on other weeks I might just zoom in on the details. So, without further ado, here is the first installment in this series. It will take you on a small tour of Malta – the must-see places if you are here on a very short visit. Although by no means an exhaustive list, it will give you an idea of what the island has to offer – apart from the sea and sun.

The capital city, Valletta, is a  UNESCO World  Heritage Site and there is plenty to discover.

Grand Harbour, Valletta’s natural harbour, has been fortified over many centuries. It is a place of unparalleled beauty and the best way to experience it is on one of the many harbour cruises that provide a commentary about the history and main landmarks of the harbour.

In the centre of the island, Mdina, the old capital city, sits proudly on its lofty bastions. This little walled city is a maze of winding streets, Baroque palaces, and a medieval core that has withstood the ravages of time.

A few kilometres away from Mdina, the cliffs at Dingli have always provided the island with impenetrable natural fortifications.

In the ancient past, Malta was thought to be the religious centre of a temple-building community. Hagar Qim (Mighty Stones) temple is one of the best places to learn more about Malta’s Neolithic past.

In the south of the island, the ancient harbour of Marsaxlokk , studded with traditional Maltese boats, is always a colourful sight.

San Anton Palace is the official residence of the President of Malta. The chapel and the gardens surrounding the Palace are open to the public and are a haven of tranquility.

Without hesitation I would say that the most beautiful beach is not found in Malta but on the neighbouring island of Comino, a short boat trip away. The beach, known as Bejn il-Kmiemen and re-named the Blue Lagoon, has the most wonderful crystal clear waters. Unless you love crowds, avoid the Blue Lagoon between the months of June and September. The place comes into its own when it can be enjoyed in relative solitude. Comino itself is worth a visit and a walk around the tiny island offers the visitor the opportunity to explore its many cliffs and secluded coves.

PS if you enjoy reading about Malta, and feel so inclined, I invite you to click the badge at the top of this page and vote for this blog or follow the link here. Thank you.

Valletta – European Capital Of Culture 2018

Hot on the heels of my last post about Valletta comes this one. I usually try to space out my posts when they are about the same subject, but the announcement last week that Valletta has been voted the European Capital of Culture for 2018, is a prestigious honour for our tiny capital city and I could not just pass it by as if nothing had happened.

The foundation stone of Valletta was laid in March 1566, at the church dedicated to Our Lady of Victory, by Grand Master La Vallette. The city was subsequently beautified over two centuries by various other Grand Masters, Knights of the Order of St John and by the Maltese nobility. Described by Benjamin Disraeli as a city “built by gentlemen, for gentlemen”, Valletta is a city of many facets. It is the smallest capital city in the European  Union but its 0.8 square km are packed with an almost dizzying array of palaces, churches, auberges and houses, interspersed with piazzas and gardens.  The city’s fortifications are a marvel of military engineering and its harbour is, in my biased opinion, one of the most beautiful in the world. I could include a thousand pictures of Valletta in this post and I would just be showing you a mere glimpse  of what it has to offer. Admittedly, a lot of work will need to be done between now and 2018. Rehabilitation, renovation and regeneration of different parts and aspects of Valletta will need to be undertaken. Much has been done in this respect  in the last 5-10 years but there are still some areas that are crying out for attention. However, I am positive, that by 2018, Valletta will once again take its place with pride amongst the much greater and more well-known cities of Europe.

I hope that its nomination as the European Capital of Culture 2018 will mean that more people will get to know, and explore, Valletta because I believe that its appeal lies in the fact that it has something for everyone.

From international brands

to little local stores.

From an abandoned fort

to a beautiful harbour.

From magnificent churches,

and sumptuous palaces

to ordinary houses.

From the art of Mattia Preti

to the sculptures of Sciortino.

From the wacky

 

to the sublime…

… and so much more.Valletta never ceases to amaze me. Not because of the things I have seen, but because of the ones that, to this day, I continue to discover on each visit.

Introducing … Bormla

On a rainy day, last February, we went for a walk in Bormla (also known as Cospicua) – one of the Three Cities. This town in Grand Harbour, hemmed in between Birgu and Isla, its more well-known neighbours, has had a colourful and often-tragic history.

Although it has been inhabited since pre-historic times, it also bore the brunt of Malta’s two major sieges. In 1565 it was decimated by the Turks. It was subsequently fortified by the Knights of the Order of St John and started to thrive when the Order used its creek as a berthing place to anchor and repair their ships. During the British years, the Royal Navy built their dockyard in the same spot. This created hundreds of jobs in the area and ushered in Bormla’s golden years.

Due to its proximity to the dockyard, Bormla was heavily bombarded by Axis airplanes during WW2 and many historic buildings were severely damaged or totally destroyed. The majority of the population took refuge in the countryside. After the war, the town rose again from the debris and the ashes but, in many cases, planning was erratic and many of the new buildings did not fit in well with the pre-war architecture that managed to survived.

These days Bormla looks a bit faded, a bit tired, as if it is still dreaming of its glory days. It needs a facelift, one that is not just cosmetic. It needs life to be injected back into it. Perhaps it needs to recapture the pride of its golden years and wipe out all the bad memories.

This harbour town is not what I would call pretty – at least not right now. It has some scars. And they run deep. There are definitely some social problems in the area and most of the population tends to focus on these negative points. I admit that this is not a place where I venture often. Indeed this is probably my first walk around this town since I was a young child. But I think that that is about to change.

It is high time that I explore this place a bit better, get to know it a bit more. Hopefully more of its buildings will be restored and renovated so that it will regain its former lustre. For the sake of our heritage I trust that this will happen sooner rather than later – before it is too late.

Photographed in the streets of Bormla

February 2012

The Breakwater Bridge

 

This is the new breakwater bridge. The first one was destroyed during an attack by Italian E-boats in July 1941. The E-boats did not manage to enter the harbour – the guns stationed at  Fort St Elmo and Fort Ricasoli (situated at either end of the harbour) made sure of this. During the attack, the bridge suffered considerable damage and was deemed unsafe. In October 2011 this new bridge, constructed in Spain, replaced the former structure. As yet, it is not accessible to the public.

 

The foundations of the breakwater were laid in 1903 but the history of the harbour goes back much further than that.

On a beautiful morning in mid-March we walked the winding part beneath Fort St Elmo in an attempt to get to the bridge. However we found the last part of the path to be blocked. It did not matter – we made plenty of other interesting discoveries on the way. Beautiful scenery,rusty gun posts,  the blue sea, wild flowers, fossils … it would have been perfect were it not for the crumbling fort above our heads. It makes me sigh, and hope, that one day, Fort St Elmo will be restored to its former glory. Its glorious past deserves nothing less.

Photographed at

St Elmo Point

Valletta

March 2012

Upper Barrakka Gardens

These garden were built in 1661 by Knight Gran Prior Flaminio Baldani specifically as  private gardens for the Italian Knights of the Order of St John. They are situated on top of a demi-bastion dedicated to St Peter and St Paul and command unobstructed views of Grand Harbour and of the area known as the Three Cities.  The gardens were opened to the public in 1824.

The gardens are adorned by a number of statues and monuments in stone and in bronze. There is a lovely arcaded section with a massive column at one end. This area used to be covered but the roof was removed in 1775 after a group of knights had met there to conspire against the Grand Master of the time.

A lower terrace served as a Saluting Battery until 1973. Nowadays the gun is fired daily at noon by re-enactors dressed in period costume.

The Upper Barrakka Gardens are a favourite haunt of both locals and tourists. In summer these gardens host a number of outdoor activities including the Delicata Wine Festival, Patches – The Special  Market and also private functions such as weddings.

When I was still a student I worked in Valletta for two summers and most mornings I would walk to the Upper Barrakka to see the sun rising over Grand Harbour. It was truly a wonderful sight especially on humid September mornings when wisps of mist still lay on the surface of the sea, dissipating slowly as the heat increased, to reveal solid bastion walls, ramparts and fortresses tinged with a rosy pink hue.

The Upper Barrakka Gardens are not large, by any means, but the spectacular view they offer more than makes up for this. I would have to conclude that those Italian Knights knew what they were doing when they chose this site as their private garden.

Photographed at

The Upper Barrakka Gardens

Valletta

July 2011

(during the Patches  Market)