A Travel Blog
We visited the former home and studio of the painter Rembrandt, located in the Nieuwmarkt district of Amsterdam. Rembrandt lived and worked in the home between 1639 and 1658. The house remains intact and has been refurnished with period furniture using a detailed inventory from the time.
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We’ve explored the Jordaan neighbourhood of Amsterdam on a few different occasions. There we’ve found classic canal views, small crooked buildings, and cozy restaurants and shops.
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The Anne Frank House was one of the highlights of my long European backpacking trip in 2003 and I was glad to be able to return with Josie so she could also experience it. The visit was just as moving as it was the first time.
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At the tail end of our trip to Valencia and Malta we enjoyed a brief layover in Madrid. Although we were tired from our flight and sad to be on our way home, we took full advantage of our two days to see some great art and get a small taste of the huge city.
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We toured Casa Rocca Piccola, a 16th century palazzo in Valletta that has been inhabited by a Maltese noble family for generations. We had a guided tour of the palazzo, including the WWII bomb shelters beneath, and were personally thanked on the way out by the current owner, the 9th Marquis de Piro.
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We didn’t visit many churches on this trip — Europe is stuffed with them, and no matter how impressive they are, they tend to blur together after a while. But we did visit St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, partially lured by the famous Caravaggio painting hanging in its oratory.
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Now familiar with the Maltese bus system from our earlier visit to Mdina, we used it once again to head to the Valletta suburb of Paola. Months earlier, back home, I’d purchased tickets online for the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, an underground Neolithic structure that dates back over 5,000 years. While in Paola, we also visited the nearby Tarxien Temples.
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Hidden in a complex of tunnels deep beneath the Upper Barrakka Gardens are the Lascaris War Rooms. This once-secret facility was used as the command headquarters for the defense of Malta and the Allied invasion of Sicily during WWII. The complex is now being fully restored and we received a guided tour from a retired member of the RAF.
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We took a bus to the town of Mdina, located about 30 minutes from Valletta in the Northern Region of Malta. A picturesque fortified city on a hill, Mdina served as Malta’s capital until 1530. When government business moved elsewhere Mdina earned the nickname of “Silent City,” a description that remains accurate today.
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We’re staying in the heart of Valletta and it’s easy to walk to any point in the old city without too much exertion. Valletta holds the distinction of being both the smallest European capital (at 0.8 km2) and the southernmost European capital. The entire city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980 and historic treasures are crammed together more densely than anywhere we’ve visited.
We took the ferry across from Valletta to Vittoriosa, one of the Three Cities across the harbour. Locals still refer to the city as Birgu, its original name before the Great Seige of 1565 when the Ottomans attempted to invade Malta.
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On our first full day in Valletta, we took a meandering walk along the southeastern shore of the Grand Harbour, starting around Fort St. Elmo and heading down to the Three Cities ferry docks.
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