Birgu, Malta

To the Conquest of the Victorious City


victoriosa-birgu-malta-birgu-waterfront
Church of Saint Lawrence
lost in history
Encounter under the Laburist Partit
Travel from Dghjasa
victorious-birgu-malta-staircase-shape
victorious-birgu-malta-statue-sao-lourenco
Bronze Triumph
Fort San Angelo
MDCCXXII
Vittoriosa, ex-Birgu
The Marina of Birgu II
The Marina of Birgu
Victorious Malta
xylitla-huasteca-potosina-san-luis-potosi-frame-grilled
Vittoriosa is the oldest of the Three Cities of Malta, headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller and, from 1530 to 1571, its capital. The resistance he offered to the Ottomans in the Great Siege of Malta kept the island Christian. Even if, later, Valletta took over the administrative and political role, the old Birgu shines with historic glory.

We wandered through Malta's yellow past. An unexpected foray into Misrah ir Rbha square in Vittoriosa reveals a delightful fusion of the island's temporal dimensions.

Three kids dressed in Maltese football club equipment appear from different corners.

At the time they had agreed or were used to, they greet each other, talk a little.

They end up sitting down, snuggled against one of the burgundy doors of one of the centuries-old buildings.

Above them, the image of a young woman seems to contemplate Malta's future.

It appears highlighted, in a poster, over the sign of the local headquarters of the Partit Laburista and the lit torch that serves as a symbol.

More towards the middle of the square, a white statue, tiny compared to the pedestal that supports it, holds a cross.

The figure honors Saint Lourenço, patron of Birgu and also of island of gozo.

A sequence of ramps and stairs takes us closer to the Birgu Waterfront, even before, to the church of São Lourenço, one of the main Catholic temples on the peninsula.

Along with that of the Annunciation that projects from its middle, overlooking the whole of the houses.

As we walk through the alleys and alleys that separate them, we witness the fusion of the city's day-to-day life with the intruder of tourist visitors.

A couple in light and light clothes, ideal for Malta's summer heat, study, in any book or guide, the context of the scenery that dazzles them.

As they do so, a priest, still clad in his cassock, passes from a dark corner to the sunny road that leads to the square.

Shortly after, another, in a dark habit, emerges from the sun. Disappear into the growing shadow and winding meanders of history, between Birgu and Vittoriosa.

The Yellowed and Holy Scenes of the Hospitaller Knights

If it weren't for the tourists and the almost immaculate cleanliness of the city, this play of light and darkness could almost take place in the Medieval Age and in the following centuries when the Knights Hospitaller took over the island.

The Inquisitor's Palace continues just two streets above the church of São Lourenço, others both below the Armory of the Knights of Malta. It is one of the few palaces used by the Inquisition still intact in both Europe and South America.

In Malta, it was inhabited and used for five centuries. Since, in 1574, Monsignor Pietro Dusina arrived from Italy, newly appointed the apostolic delegate and the first inquisitor of Malta.

Until the middle of the XNUMXth century, successive residents made an effort to improve and make the previously vacant palace into a dignified and welcoming residence.

There we find an open kitchen area.

And, on the first floor, the rooms and other sophisticated private areas. As it was supposed, these personal and humanized spaces coexisted with the Holy Office, the dungeons and the torture room.

We rummaged through them, curious as ever about the strange collusion of life and death, or at least the death sentence, far more dazzled and entertained than when we circled the Malta Maritime Museum, also located on the Birgu Waterfront.

There, we are especially excited about the models of warships used by the Knights of São João.

From Vittoriosa to Cospicua, and back to Birgu

If the museum exhibits and explains Malta's floating past, from its battles against North African pirates to World War II, the sub-arm of the sea in front welcomes dozens of embarked lives today.

Malta has several marinas, four of them around Valletta and their cities.

The largest are Msida – northwest of the peninsula on which the capital developed. And that of Birgu, situated between Vittoriosa and her “sister” Senglea, in one of the several recesses perpendicular to the island's Grand Harbour.

As we walk along the Xatt Il-Forn and Xatt ir-Rizq waterfront, we pass the moored vessels, from huge multi-million dollar yachts to small speedboats and sailboats, more conducive to a peaceful Mediterranean.

The further we go to the bottom of the secondary inlet and the marina, the more the boats' draft decreases.

At the Normal Bridge, the inlet narrows again to the Bormla channel.

In its terrestrial extension, a golden statue of the Madonna, (Our Lady, not the Louise Ciccone of “Like a Virgin”), blesses the other of the Three Cities that, without knowing how, we had already entered: Cospicua.

We reversed course, towards the opposite end of the peninsula and Birgu, the one enclosed by the Fort of St. Angelo.

The Entry into Malta of the Order of Saint John of the Knights Hospitaller

The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, as they were called in full, settled in Malta in 1530, after the increasingly powerful Ottoman Empire expelled it from the island of Rhodes.

Malta was one of the territories that the Spanish Emperor Charles V granted to the Hospitallers, along with the island of Gozo and the city, today Libya, of Tripoli.

Even before taking control of the island, in 1526, the Hospitallers sent a delegation of eight knights representing each of its administrative divisions, identified as Tongues.

When they arrived, despite the fact that the local population was basic and difficult to defend, they decided to build the capital of Malta there.

Mdina, then, had satisfactory fortifications. However, it was situated in the interior of the island, which nullified the naval power that the Knights Hospitallers increasingly required.

On the other hand, the Hospitallers knew that the Ottomans would not give up on annihilating them.

They fortified Birgu to the height of that notion.

In place of the old Castrum Maris, they built Saint Angelo Castle. They separated it from the village with a narrow channel that could only be crossed by a drawbridge.

Once finished, they decided that the castle would be the fortified apartment of the Grand Master of Malta, the first to domiciled on the island, on the order of the 40th, if counted from the genesis of the Order.

The 49th Grand Master to reside there, Jean Parisot de Valette, had little rest. Obsessed with dominating the Mediterranean, the Ottomans returned to the charge. In 1551, they failed to conquer Malta.

The Great Siege of Malta and Birgu Resistance

They took Tripoli.

In 1565, in a second, better-prepared attempt, they besieged the island. The siege lasted almost four months, from May to September of that year. Birgu's location in the heart of the Grand Harbor meant that the main clashes took place there.

the defense Birgu and Malta were in shambles. However, Valette's military prowess and providential reinforcements from Sicily dictated the Ottomans' retreat.

The Knights Hospitaller and the Maltese emerged triumphant, but barely.

Valette yearned for almost total impregnability for Malta. He had the capital passed to the top of Mount Sceberras, on the peninsula north of Birgu. He came to be called Valletta.

Today, it remains the same.

In 1571, the Knights Hospitaller moved in force to Valletta. Until then, the church they called theirs was that of São Lourenço. When, in 1577, the Co-Cathedral of São João de Valletta was ready, they started to use it.

Due to the decisive role he played in the resistance to the Ottomans, Birgu received the title of City Vittoriosa. On the other hand, he lost the political protagonism he maintained. He dedicated himself mainly to trade and nautical services.

The tranquility that lived for almost two centuries was broken, once again, for the worst reasons of war.

From Napoleon's Expulsion to Post-War Reconstruction

We reach 1798. Napoleon put Valletta's invincibility to the test. And he won. Only two years later, with the precious help of Great Britain, Naples and even Portuguese forces, the French withdrew.

Malta became a British protectorate. Birgu, hosted the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, a kind of preamble to the function of a large marina that it continues to play, all these years after the British left the island (1979).

It would not be the only preamble or foreshadowing worthy of note. In 1806, the large warehouse that was kept there exploded and the accident took the lives of another two hundred people.

During the 2nd World War, due to its proximity to the Naval Shipyards, Vittoriosa was bombed countless times. Several of its most iconic historic buildings were razed to the ground.

This was the case of the Clock Tower, a watchtower erected in the medieval period, with unobstructed views over the Grand Harbor where enemy ships and fleets were expected.

The Albergue d'Allemagne, one of the buildings where the Knights Hospitallers were staying, was also razed to the ground.

Fort Saint Angelo just returned to the Hospitallers

Finally, we faced Fort Saint Angelo. We intended to visit him. But we find ourselves barred by the fate that Malta's history has in store for it. Recently, the Government of Malta reached an agreement with the Order of the Knights of St. John, returning to the island.

A part of the fort was ceded for 99 years for the exclusive use of the Hospitallers. It thus forms a kind of independent state over which Malta has no jurisdiction.

Other sections of the fort belong to Heritage Malta, an organization in charge of the island's historical heritage. A recovery for tourism purposes will be foreseen.

No solution, no view, we leave it for a next time.

We ended up admiring it later, from the Viewpoint of the Upper Barraka Gardens, from where the suffering but triumphant Vittoriosa insinuates herself again.

Senglea, Malta

An Overcrowded Malta

At the turn of the 8.000th century, Senglea housed 0.2 inhabitants in 2 km3.000, a European record, today, it has “only” XNUMX neighborhood Christians. It is the smallest, most overcrowded and genuine of the Maltese cities.
Gozo, Malta

Mediterranean Days of Utter Joy

The island of Gozo is a third the size of Malta but only thirty of the small nation's three hundred thousand inhabitants. In duo with Comino's beach recreation, it houses a more down-to-earth and serene version of the always peculiar Maltese life.
Valletta, Malta

An ex-Humble Amazing Capital

At the time of its foundation, the Order of Knights Hospitaller called it "the most humble". Over the centuries, the title ceased to serve him. In 2018, Valletta was the tiniest European Capital of Culture ever and one of the most steeped in history and dazzling in memory.
Mdina, Malta

The Silent and Remarkable City of Malta

Mdina was Malta's capital until 1530. Even after the Knights Hospitaller demoted it, it was attacked and fortified accordingly. Today, it's the coastal and overlooking Valletta that drives the island's destinies. Mdina has the tranquility of its monumentality.
Rabat, Malta

A Former Suburb in the Heart of Malta

If Mdina became the noble capital of the island, the Knights Hospitaller decided to sacrifice the fortification of present-day Rabat. The city outside the walls expanded. It survives as a popular and rural counterpoint to the now living museum in Mdina.
Saint John of Acre, Israel

The Fortress That Withstood Everything

It was a frequent target of the Crusades and taken over and over again. Today, Israeli, Acre is shared by Arabs and Jews. He lives much more peaceful and stable times than the ones he went through.
Helsinki, Finland

Finland's once Swedish Fortress

Detached in a small archipelago at the entrance to Helsinki, Suomenlinna was built by the Swedish kingdom's political-military designs. For more than a century, the Russia stopped her. Since 1917, the Suomi people have venerated it as the historic bastion of their thorny independence.
Castles and Fortresses

The World to Defense - Castles and Fortresses that Resist

Under threat from enemies from the end of time, the leaders of villages and nations built castles and fortresses. All over the place, military monuments like these continue to resist.
Khiva, Uzbequistan

The Silk Road Fortress the Soviets Velved

In the 80s, Soviet leaders renewed Khiva in a softened version that, in 1990, UNESCO declared a World Heritage Site. The USSR disintegrated the following year. Khiva has preserved its new luster.
Massada, Israel

Massada: The Ultimate Jewish Fortress

In AD 73, after months of siege, a Roman legion found that the resisters at the top of Masada had committed suicide. Once again Jewish, this fortress is now the supreme symbol of Zionist determination
Rhinoceros, PN Kaziranga, Assam, India
Safari
PN Kaziranga, India

The Indian Monoceros Stronghold

Situated in the state of Assam, south of the great Brahmaputra river, PN Kaziranga occupies a vast area of ​​alluvial swamp. Two-thirds of the rhinocerus unicornis around the world, there are around 100 tigers, 1200 elephants and many other animals. Pressured by human proximity and the inevitable poaching, this precious park has not been able to protect itself from the hyperbolic floods of the monsoons and from some controversies.
Faithful light candles, Milarepa Grotto temple, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 9th Manang to Milarepa Cave, Nepal

A Walk between Acclimatization and Pilgrimage

In full Annapurna Circuit, we finally arrived in Manang (3519m). we still need acclimatize to the higher stretches that followed, we inaugurated an equally spiritual journey to a Nepalese cave of Milarepa (4000m), the refuge of a siddha (sage) and Buddhist saint.
Bay Watch cabin, Miami beach, beach, Florida, United States,
Architecture & Design
Miami beach, USA

The Beach of All Vanities

Few coasts concentrate, at the same time, so much heat and displays of fame, wealth and glory. Located in the extreme southeast of the USA, Miami Beach is accessible via six bridges that connect it to the rest of Florida. It is meager for the number of souls who desire it.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Adventure
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.
Burning prayers, Ohitaki Festival, fushimi temple, kyoto, japan
Ceremonies and Festivities
Kyoto, Japan

A Combustible Faith

During the Shinto celebration of Ohitaki, prayers inscribed on tablets by the Japanese faithful are gathered at the Fushimi temple. There, while being consumed by huge bonfires, her belief is renewed.
Accra, Ghana, Flagstaff House
Cities
Accra, Ghana

The Capital in the Cradle of the Gold Coast

Do From the landing of Portuguese navigators to the independence in 1957 several the powers dominated the Gulf of Guinea region. After the XNUMXth century, Accra, the present capital of Ghana, settled around three colonial forts built by Great Britain, Holland and Denmark. In that time, it grew from a mere suburb to one of the most vibrant megalopolises in Africa.
Singapore Asian Capital Food, Basmati Bismi
Meal
Singapore

The Asian Food Capital

There were 4 ethnic groups in Singapore, each with its own culinary tradition. Added to this was the influence of thousands of immigrants and expatriates on an island with half the area of ​​London. It was the nation with the greatest gastronomic diversity in the Orient.
Culture
Pueblos del Sur, Venezuela

The Pueblos del Sur Locainas, Their Dances and Co.

From the beginning of the XNUMXth century, with Hispanic settlers and, more recently, with Portuguese emigrants, customs and traditions well known in the Iberian Peninsula and, in particular, in northern Portugal, were consolidated in the Pueblos del Sur.
Sport
Competitions

Man: an Ever Tested Species

It's in our genes. For the pleasure of participating, for titles, honor or money, competitions give meaning to the world. Some are more eccentric than others.
Tokyo's sophisticated houses, where Couchsurfing and your hosts abound.
Traveling
Couchsurfing (Part 1)

Mi Casa, Su Casa

In 2003, a new online community globalized an old landscape of hospitality, conviviality and interests. Today, Couchsurfing welcomes millions of travelers, but it shouldn't be taken lightly.
Network launch, Ouvéa Island-Lealdade Islands, New Caledonia
Ethnic
Ouvéa, New Caledonia

Between Loyalty and Freedom

New Caledonia has always questioned integration into faraway France. On the island of Ouvéa, Loyalty Archipelago, we find an history of resistance but also natives who prefer French-speaking citizenship and privileges.
portfolio, Got2Globe, Travel photography, images, best photographs, travel photos, world, Earth
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Portfolio Got2globe

The Best in the World – Got2Globe Portfolio

holy bookcase
History
Tsfat (Safed), Israel

When the Kabbalah is a Victim of Itself

In the 50s, Tsfat brought together the artistic life of the young Israeli nation and regained its secular mystique. But famous converts like Madonna have come to disturb the most elemental Kabbalist discretion.
Surf Lesson, Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii
Islands
Waikiki, OahuHawaii

The Japanese Invasion of Hawaii

Decades after the attack on Pearl Harbor and from the capitulation in World War II, the Japanese returned to Hawaii armed with millions of dollars. Waikiki, his favorite target, insists on surrendering.
Era Susi towed by dog, Oulanka, Finland
Winter White
PN Oulanka, Finland

A Slightly Lonesome Wolf

Jukka “Era-Susi” Nordman has created one of the largest packs of sled dogs in the world. He became one of Finland's most iconic characters but remains faithful to his nickname: Wilderness Wolf.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Literature
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
Fluvial coming and going
Nature
Iriomote, Japan

The Small Tropical Japanese Amazon of Iriomote

Impenetrable rainforests and mangroves fill Iriomote under a pressure cooker climate. Here, foreign visitors are as rare as the yamaneko, an elusive endemic lynx.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Glass Bottom Boats, Kabira Bay, Ishigaki
Natural Parks
Ishigaki, Japan

The Exotic Japanese Tropics

Ishigaki is one of the last islands in the stepping stone that stretches between Honshu and Taiwan. Ishigakijima is home to some of the most amazing beaches and coastal scenery in these parts of the Pacific Ocean. More and more Japanese who visit them enjoy them with little or no bathing.
Kukenam reward
UNESCO World Heritage
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
In elevator kimono, Osaka, Japan
Characters
Osaka, Japan

In the Company of Mayu

Japanese nightlife is a multi-faceted, multi-billion business. In Osaka, an enigmatic couchsurfing hostess welcomes us, somewhere between the geisha and the luxury escort.
La Digue, Seychelles, Anse d'Argent
Beaches
La Digue, Seychelles

Monumental Tropical Granite

Beaches hidden by lush jungle, made of coral sand washed by a turquoise-emerald sea are anything but rare in the Indian Ocean. La Digue recreated itself. Around its coastline, massive boulders sprout that erosion has carved as an eccentric and solid tribute of time to the Nature.
Prayer flags in Ghyaru, Nepal
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 4th – Upper Banana to Ngawal, Nepal

From Nightmare to Dazzle

Unbeknownst to us, we are faced with an ascent that leads us to despair. We pulled our strength as far as possible and reached Ghyaru where we felt closer than ever to the Annapurnas. The rest of the way to Ngawal felt like a kind of extension of the reward.
Chepe Express, Chihuahua Al Pacifico Railway
On Rails
Creel to Los Mochis, Mexico

The Barrancas del Cobre & the CHEPE Iron Horse

The Sierra Madre Occidental's relief turned the dream into a construction nightmare that lasted six decades. In 1961, at last, the prodigious Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad was opened. Its 643km cross some of the most dramatic scenery in Mexico.
emperor akihito waves, emperor without empire, tokyo, japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

The Emperor Without Empire

After the capitulation in World War II, Japan underwent a constitution that ended one of the longest empires in history. The Japanese emperor is, today, the only monarch to reign without empire.
Casario, uptown, Fianarantsoa, ​​Madagascar
Daily life
Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

The Malagasy City of Good Education

Fianarantsoa was founded in 1831 by Ranavalona Iª, a queen of the then predominant Merina ethnic group. Ranavalona Iª was seen by European contemporaries as isolationist, tyrant and cruel. The monarch's reputation aside, when we enter it, its old southern capital remains as the academic, intellectual and religious center of Madagascar.
ice tunnel, black gold route, Valdez, Alaska, USA
Wildlife
Valdez, Alaska

On the Black Gold Route

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker caused a massive environmental disaster. The vessel stopped plying the seas, but the victim city that gave it its name continues on the path of crude oil from the Arctic Ocean.
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.