Malta by Tour Bus: Valetta, Mosta, Mdina, St.Julian, Sliema Traveling Around Malta on the Hop On, Hop Off Tour Bus for More Sightseeing:

Sunday, August 30, 2026

Malta by Tour Bus: Mosta, Mdina, St.Julian, Sliema

Traveling Around Malta on the Hop On, Hop Off Tour Bus for More Sightseeing: Valetta, Mosta, Mdina, St. Julian, Sliema.

We spent today exploring Malta. We went far out of Valetta, the capital city in which we were based, to explore parts associated with its Islamic past. But first, we awoke after a restful night, showered, got dressed and went in search of a church as it was Sunday and we were keen to catch Mass somewhere.

As we walked towards the Main tourist area, we realized that, being Sunday, everything was closed: all shops, all eateries, everything. The streets were eerily quiet—perhaps the shops would open later in the afternoon. But at 8.00 am, they were dead.

Hearing Sunday Mass in St. Catherine’s Monastery Church:

the route to the main square, we heard sacred music emanate from one of the churches we were passing: on impulse, I told Llew that we should go inside as Mass was probably on. It turned out to be the church attached to the 400-year old Monastery of St. Catherine (which, by the way, has opened its doors to visitors after 400 years). I was right. Mass had begun but we were very early in the service and decided to stay on and hear Mass. It turned out to be another one of the ornate Baroque churches which are simply plentiful in these parts: grand altar, dozens of tall, silver candlesticks filled with really tall candles, oil paintings everywhere, marble sculpture on walls, pietra dura on the floor, a grand painted ceiling. There was a really old priest saying Mass with about a dozen people (all old as the hills) in the congregation. We stayed through the Mass, received Communion and left at about 9.00 am when Mass ended. We then walked towards the Main Tourist Plaza.

Visiting the Fabulous Cathedral of St. John the Baptist:

When we arrived at the entrance to St. John’s Cathedral, we realized that the place was closed to tourists today. The only persons allowed inside were those interested in praise and worship. We walked briskly around the side to arrive at the grand Baroque entrance of the church, complete with Greek Neo-Classical pillars. Inside, Mass had begun, but it was close to Communion time. This gave us a chance to get inside and to see the place without being able to see the Caravaggio paintings that are closed to the public on Sundays. Needless to say, I was seriously bummed out, but we simply had to accept it.

And what can I say about the Cathedral? On a trip in which we had Baroque splendor coming out of our ears, this one outshone all the others. I mean, it was seriously OTT (Over The Top). Words cannot describe the exuberance of the interior design. There was a soaring ceiling that was magnificently painted. The altar was a masterpiece of sculptural elegance—so finely wrought that I could have sworn the ‘Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist’ was by none other than Bernini himself (it wasn’t). There was heavy gilding all over the pillars that held up the nave. And since this was a Cathedral built by the Knights of St. John ,soon after their arrival in Malta as part of their journey to the Holy Land during the Crusades and after, they spared no pains in bringing motifs from their own uniforms (helmets, shields, coats of arms, etc.) to the décor. Plus, the use of Pietra Dura was so abundant that there was every possible shade of marble that you can imagine on the floor and the walls. In every niche in the side chapels, there was lavish decoration by way of gilding so that the entire interior of the church seemed to glow with a heavenly light. Believe me, this was jaw-droppingly stunning and I was simply overwhelmed. My eye did not know where to rest as everywhere it looked, there was another wonder to behold. When we had done almost a complete round of the church (after Mass had ended) and after I had taken several photographs, the same Keralite guard with whom I had chatted yesterday, came up to tell me that I could not take pictures as the Cathedral is closed to visitors on Sundays. I apologized to him and said that I was unaware of this (of course, by this time, we had taken all the pictures we had wanted and seen almost everything).

Once outside, in the Square, we made a beeline for the SPAR (supermarket) as we were still on empty stomachs and felt peckish. Llew chose a pain au chocolate and I chose a pistachio croissant. Llew had a hot American and I had a mocha frappe as it had already become warm enough for me to want something cold to drink. With these goodies in a paper bag, we walked out and made our way to Independence Plaza in time to board the Hop On Hop Off Bus for our second day of touring. But, as we were just a bit early, we sat in the quiet garden attached to this square, ate our breakfast and sipped our drinks. A little later, on time, the Bus arrived and we reached for the top deck. There, with good seats, front and center, we prepared ourselves for what would technically be our last day of sightseeing as early, tomorrow morning, we’d be leaving Malta and returning to India. Hence, we really felt the need to see and do everything that was on our list today.

First Sightseeing Stop--The Town of Mosta:

The fact that Malta is a small country (among the smallest in the world) is evident from the fact that you can basically drive around and see all of it quite comfortably in three days (we would be seeing it in two)! It is basically a lot of wilderness, punctuated by three or four big cities/towns where the majority of the inhabitants are based. Among them is Mosta, one of the bigger towns that is renowned for its single highlight: a massive Cathedral which is based on the design of a Rotunda crowned by a dome. It is to this place that most visitors head and when the bus put us down, we had to walk for about 15 minutes to get to the Church Square where the church is located.

Visiting Mosta’s Rotunda Church:

This church is known world-wide for having the third largest unsupported dome in the world. It is also known as the Miracle Church because during World War II when Malta suffered heavy shelling, a bomb was dropped right in the center of the church while Mass was going on with about 300 people inside. However, for some inexplicable reason, the bomb did not detonate and every single person escaped unhurt. A replica of the bomb is kept inside the Church.

In this church too, Mass was going on when we arrived. We requested the guard to allow us to enter for a few minutes of quiet prayer and she agreed. This gave us the opportunity to take in the Baroque elegance of this church—it was beautiful and impressive but not Over The Top (as the Cathedral of St. John is). Yes, in this church too, we had the chance to walk around discreetly, when Mass ended, and to take just a few pictures. I was particularly enthralled by a statue that portrayed the Virgin Mary in a luminous navy blue mantle—in her state of Assumption into Heaven.

On the way out, we had the opportunity to take a look once again at the grandeur of the exterior of the church with its grand staircase, its thickly carved bas-relief on the pediment and its imposing entrance.

Quick Cold Coke in a Local Café:

We had about 20 minutes to go before we began the hot walk to our bus-stop and so we decided to stop off at a local café just opposite the church to have a cold Coke. This also allowed us to use the facilities as we had been out already for a few hours. This short break was perfectly refreshing and allowed us to muster up the resolve we needed to go out again in the blazing sun to get our bus.

Back on the Bus: Headed to Mdina:

Back on the bus (we sat on the lower deck as it was a short hop to our next stop), we gradually made our way across really arid, brown countryside to our next port of call: the town of Mdina. And if it sounds similar to Medina in Saudi Arabia, the holiest city of the Muslim world, it is not coincidental. Mdina was founded and developed by Muslim settlers who arrived in Malta, many centuries ago, and placed their stamp upon the land and its people. The spelling is only slightly different but the cultural ethos is very similar.

From far away in the distance, we could see Mdina because it sits magnificently on a towering mountain. Furthermore, the Cathedral with its imposing dome brings even more stature to the venue and the drive up the mountain to get to the summit (where all the action is) provides some fine photographic opportunities. My camera kept taking in every angle of these passing scenes as they were entirely fascinating to me.

Exploring Mdina:

Once the bus put us off at Mdina (with the suggestion that we return after an hour to catch the next bus forward), we found the place simply heaving with tourists. After Valetta, this is probably the most popular part of Malta. It is characterized by structures—religious and otherwise—that are solid, extravagant and imposing. As in the case of most cities in Sicily and Malta, there is the residential part of the town which is basically a warren of narrow lanes that curve picturesquely and are punctuated by old-fashioned gas lights which make them very atmospheric. Here too, the visitor is encouraged to get lost in any of these mazes and take in the exceedingly romantic atmosphere. We, alas, did not have the time to do this…but we did get a pretty good feel of it as we walked along these narrow lanes to get to the main religious building. There was the Monastery of St. Peter that we visited to gasp anew at yet another Baroque Church.

Visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral:

Just a little ahead, we entered the main religious building in Malta—St. Paul’s Cathedral. This structure is named after the Biblical figure who was known to have been a persecutor of Christians until he was struck by the Lord and underwent a conversion. He then became a champion of Christianity and spent the rest of his days preaching and spreading Christianity. In the course of his conversion tours, he passed through Malta having reached the island when his ship became wrecked. It is upon the spot where he alighted and met the ruler of Malta that the Cathedral was built.

For me, the most striking element of this Cathedral (in a trip that took us into one more gorgeous church than the other) was the painted ceiling: it was entirely reminiscent of Michaelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. Plus the nave, the altar area, every bit of the church’s ceiling was grandly painted. Furthermore, through the use of Neo-Classical columns with Corinthian gilded acanthus leaves at the top, greater Baroque splendor was added to the space. Beautiful Venetian glass chandeliers hung down from the high ceiling. Here too, Mass was going on when we entered but the place was lit up sufficiently well that we could take in all its visual details from the main door itself.

Seeing the Carmelite Church Next Door:

Next, we ventured into the Carmelite Chapel where the ceiling was simply exquisite. Although this is just a small chapel and lacks the grandeur of the gloriously huge cathedral and basilicas we saw, this appealed because the ceiling was painted so charmingly to depict Our Blesserd Mother in her heavenly glory. The main altarpiece was surrounded by a gilded frame that was so elaborate and so gorgeous as to be total breathtaking. It was in church interiors, such as these, that we recognized the extent of Christian zeal that led to the construction and decoration of such awesome churches as each little town tried to compete with the other.

Mdina had a lot of tourist energy and charm. Other than these churches, there were horse-drawn carriages that wound visitors through the maze of lanes. There were gelato shops where one could have sundaes in fancy glasses. There were many shops selling Mdina glass--which is almost as famous as Venetian glass. We entered a few of the shops selling these wares and indeed they were just superb. Also because Mdina is built on a height, there is a lovely lookout terrace to which all visitors go so that they can receive sweeping views of the arid plains beneath. It makes for a visual treat although the haze and the uniformity of the brown color does not make it very photogenic.

When our hour was nearly up, we hurried to the meeting point so that we could board our bus once again. We had seen two of the major showpieces outside of Valetta and we felt seriously fatigued by the heat and our exertions at this point. It was a relief to be able to sit down in a bus and be driven around—although I have to say that the afternoon sun was so strong that despite wearing hats and sunglasses, I felt quite alarmingly dehydrated.

Driving Through Some Snazzy Maltese Towns:

The latter half of this day’s Bus Tour (the North Route) took us into some very interesting modern towns. The contrast was really evident between the ancient towns of Mosta and Mdina and the lovely seaside towns of St. Paul’s Bay where the water was so clear and so shallow that there were loads of swimmers enjoying the leisure afforded by a Sunday afternoon. Many new high-rise apartment buildings in this area introduced us to the affluent lifestyle of Maltese residents. In the same way, we drove through St. Julian’s and Sliema, two beautiful coastal towns with a heaving night life, an abundance of eateries and restaurants and any number of shopping opportunities from small Mom and Pop stores to grand shopping malls like The Point.

Lunch at St. Julian’s/Sliema:

By the time we arrived at St. Julian’s, we were ready to stop and have a nice (late) lunch. Walking along the busy waterfront where, apart from the tourists, a whole lot of locals were out enjoying the holiday, we picked a place with full AC facilities as I was simply too hot to sit outside at one of the pavement cafes. My idea was to look at some shopping possibilities at Marks and Spencer which was just next door to a number of eateries and eventually we chose a really nice place where we had Seafood Pasta (and yes, I did ask for the spaghetti to be well-cooked). It was served with a delicious marinara sauce and two really gigantic prawns perched on the top. It was so hot that we accompanied the meal with cold beers and believe me, it was one of the best meals we had on this trip—although really simple and not highly touted.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hoping to shop for some clothes, swimsuit, sandals, etc. as all the shops were having end-of-summer sales. It would be the only time we could allocate for shopping on this entire trip. Sadly, we did not find anything. Either the size was wrong or the prices were ridiculous. In the end, after about an hour and traipsing through about a dozen shops, we simply gave up. However, I did get some goodies at M and S in the shape of my favorite cookies—although most of the cookies I like had been swiped.

Back on the Bus to Valetta:

Knowing that last bus to Valetta would leave St. Julian’s/Sliema at 5.00 pm, we returned to the Bus Stop and, sure enough, along came our bus on schedule. All that was left then was to enjoy the last twenty minutes in the Bus as it took us back to our original boarding spot at Independence Plaza in Valetta. Once there, we browsed in the souvenir shops again realizing that this was the last opportunity we would have to do any shopping for gifts. Then, we decided to get back to our hotel and finish off our packing as well as close up our studio. Since this was not a hotel there were certain things we had to do like making sure the garbage was put out correctly, our crockery/cutlery washed and put back in the right places, etc. We had a drink together while taking care of all these chores at home. We also called an Uber for 4.00 am tomorrow as we need to be at the airport by 4.30 am for our 7.30 am flight to Amsterdam. We actually received a confirmation from our Uber driver—so we were really pleased and relieved to receive that. With all these tasks accomplished, we could set out again to have our last dinner of our vacation and we chose to go to ‘Sally Port Pizzeria’ which was literally just around the corner from where we lived.

Last Dinner in Malta at Sally Port Pizzeria:

When we arrived at ‘Sally Port Pizzeria’, we were surprised to find it packed. In fact, the server told us that we’d have to wait for about 20 minutes for a table. We were game, especially as I really wanted to be able to stroll along the waterfront at night to take in the sights of the city under moonlight. We were right on the promenade and had the opportunity to finally walk upon the city walls. Of course, we did take many pictures as the lighting was simply perfect. We could see fireworks across the harbor (probably in St. Julian’s) and as the watercraft came into harbor, it made for a very evocative setting of everything that Malta had offered us. We loved that last moonlit walk.

Then, we returned to ‘Sally’s’ and sat ourselves down to enjoy one last vacation meal. They did have an extensive pizza menu and we chose to share a large one with salami, basil and burrata which was very good indeed. I actually had a berry cider to go with it while Llew had a glass of house red wine. What a lovely end it was to our travels amidst the Mediterranean Islands! We consider ourselves very blessed that we had these marvelous experience and, on that happy note, we paid our bill and walked back to our studio. Literally, five minutes later, we were getting ourselves ready for bed.

Until tomorrow, ciao…