Maltese Baroque gem Valletta

Every day at 12 noon, tourists gather on St. Peter and Paul Bastion on the fortifications, where one of the old cannons is fired. It's a resounding reminder that Valletta was built 450 years ago by the Knights of St. John as a fortified city on the Mediterranean island of Malta.

Valletta was one of the first European cities to be planned as a single holistic creation. Shortly after construction began in 1566, masterpieces emerged: fortresses, churches, palaces. Valletta boasts more than 300 historical monuments. In 1980 UNESCO declared the entire town center a cultural heritage site.

The idea of building a new city as headquarters of the Knights of St. John originated with Jean Parisot de la Valette, the grand master of the order, who gave the city its name. His palace is one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Valletta. Nowadays it houses the office of the president of Malta, but many parts of the magnificent Baroque building are open to the public.

The Grand Master's Palace borders Republic Square, still commonly called the Piazza Regina, whose many cafés and restaurants make it a popular meeting place. Here you can fortify yourself for the next highlight on your sightseeing agenda with a pastizz, a typical savoury pastry filled with ricotta or mushy peas.

Malta is said to have 365 churches, one for each day of the year. So Valletta is blessed with many churches. One of the most magnificent is St. John's Co-Cathedral, which shares the seat of the archdiocese of Malta with St. Paul's Cathedral in Mdina. It was built in a mere five years, between 1573 and 1578, but completing its ornate interior decoration took nearly a century.

High tech architecture meets medieval façades: the new city gate by Italian architect Renzo Piano is not exactly uncontroversial. The City Gate project, which was finished in 2014, also includes the new parliament building and the open air theatre built on the ruins of the old opera house

A stroll through the lanes in the old town, with their colorful wooden balconies, provides a contrast to the grand palaces and official buildings. The balconies used to serve as box seats for women, who could watch the activity on the streets while protected by curtains from prying eyes. Now there's a subsidy scheme to preserve them as part of Malta's cultural heritage.

Malta's history stretches back to the Stone Age. An abundance of temples, prehistoric tombs and cultic sites have been unearthed on Malta. The museum of archaeology in Valletta exhibits spectular finds, among them the Sleeping Lady. She's more than 4000 years old.

The Manoel Theatre, a rococo gem, is one of the oldest working theatres in Europe. It was built in 1731. A visit is well worth it, even without a ticket for a performance. You can view the auditorium, the backstage area and a small theatre museum with many historical costumes and an old wind machine.

If you need a short break after a tour of the city, this garden is the place for you! The land has been used as an oasis of quiet since 1661. From the Upper Barrakka Gardens you also have a fantastic view of Valletta's Grand Harbour.

After sunset the Maltese capital is an ideal place for romantics. A stroll along the old fortress walls or an apéritif in one of the many cafés is a perfect way to end the day in Valletta, which, together with Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, is a European Capital of Culture in 2018.