Thursday, 9 May 2024

Having arrived at Valletta from Sicily the previous evening on the Virtu Ferries ‘Jean De La Vallette’ from Pozzallo, the Villa del Porto guest house in the district of Kalkara, proved to be a quiet and comfortable residence with a lovely breakfast bar on the top floor/ roof.

This morning our party took the local Birgu-Valletta ferry crossing and used the Barrakka Lift back up to Valletta to see ‘The Malta Experience’ an excellent audio video show for anyone unfamiliar with the 7000 years of Malta’s history. This was followed by a visit to the War Museum at Fort St. Elmo – again most informative.

In the evening, a taxi ride to Rabat/Mdina enabled us to take part in a two hour walking Dark Malta Tour entitled ‘Mysteries & Histories of Mdina’ – quite scary! After which it was back to our base in Kalkara.

Friday, 10 May 2024

Today we visited Rabat and looked in at the Domus Romana, the home of a well connected family in the Roman period which contains some excellent mosaics and statuary, including a really superb statue of Emperor Claudius.

We continued on to St. Paul’s Catacombs where a good understanding of Roman burial practises may be observed albeit at a period later than St. Paul’s.

After lunch we journeyed on from Rabat, thanks to a very helpful taxi driver by the name of Clifford, to the headland overlooking St. Paul’s Islands near which the famous shipwreck is believed to have occurred. It was a special place where we felt the Apostle’s presence and which cannot have changed much over the last two thousand years. On the way back to Kalkara, Clifford kindly took us to see Ballut beach, considered by some to be the best beach in Malta.

Saturday, 11 May 2024

Today the pilgrims visited Gozo, ‘the island of joy’.
We set off from the Fast Ferry Terminal at Ta’Liesse, Grand Harbour Valletta for the port of Maharr on the island.

We first called at the Ggantija Megalith site which are the second oldest Neolithic megaliths in the world.

This was followed by a walk around the Citadel at Victoria, which included its cathedral, where we spent some time in prayer and contemplation before returning to Valletta by the Gozo ferry, from which we had a seaward view of St. Paul’s Islands.

Sunday, 12 May 2024

Our last full day in Malta!
During the morning the pilgrims attended The Collegiate Parish Church of St. Paul’s Shipwreck in Valletta where they inspected the reliquary of what a is held to be part of the wrist bone of St. Paul and part of the column on which he was beheaded on the road to Ostia outside Rome.

In the afternoon our party visited the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Archeological Park to see the two magnificent Neolithic temples there. These were really spectacular – huge and in an excellent state of preservation. The South Temple is perfectly aligned with the rising sun at the equinoxes with the sun in line with the main axis of the temple.

Monday, 13 May 2024

Homeward bound.
We said goodbye to our hostess, Doreen, at the Villa del Porto guest house in Kalkara and left for our flight from Malta to London Stansted which departed at 11:55 local time.

After an uneventful fight, the train connections from Stansted to home were all on time.
Cheeky Chaplain arrived back tired but spiritually refreshed.

Sunday, 5 May 2024

The three of us departed Taormina and headed for Syracuse.
On route the pilgrims visited Aci Castiello, the Norman castle, where the custodian kindly admitted us after the official closing time – he and Cheeky Chaplain even exchanged hats!

We then continued on to Lentini, the site of an ancient city, Leontinoi,  before arriving in Syracuse at about 16:45.

After parking the car, the three of us walked the short distance to our lovely apartment, La Colombaia Di Ortygia, in the middle of the island of Ortygia known as the Giudecca or Jewish quarter, where just like St Paul we where to stay for three days.

Monday, 6 May 2024

The morning was spent visiting the archaeological area of the Neapolis. Here is to be found the Greek Theatre (impressive, although at the time of our visit was somewhat obscured by modern seating for current performances), the Roman Amphitheatre (really impressive),

and the latomie (stone quarries) where 7000 Athenian prisoners of war toiled in 413 B.C. – of particular interest is the so called ‘Ear of Dionysius’.

In the afternoon we returned over the Porto Piccolo to Ortygia to visit a number of sacred places. Almost immediately we encountered  the remains of the 7th century B.C. Temple of Apollo, considered to be the first great Doric temple of its kind in Sicily.

A short walk brought us to the Cathedral built on the site of the ancient Temple of Athena, and which incorporates its columns into the structure – the three of us felt the sublime holiness of the place and offered prayers of thanks for our pilgrimage.

Then on to the roofless medieval church of St. John the Baptist, near where St. Paul may have preached in A.D. 59.

 

Finally returning to our apartment to freshen up for dinner.

Tuesday, 7 May 2024

We went upcountry today by car to visit the Necropolis of Filiporto, where there are over 500 rock-cut tombs dating to the 9th/8th Century BC.
Then on to the ancient city of Akrai, where a good 250 metre section of the Decumanus (the main east-west road through the town) has been excavated, together with a charming Greek Theatre, with 700 seats, and a bouleterion dating from the second half of the third century B.C.

We returned to Syracuse and returned hire car.

Wednesday, 8 May 2024

This morning, we checked out of our lovely apartment in Ortygia, then paid a visit to the Regional Archaeological ‘Paolo Orsi’ – one of the principal archaeological museums of Europe and contains a great collection of exhibits from all over the Syracuse area.
Of particular interest to the Christian visitor are two items found in the Catacomb of San Giovanni: The Euskia Inscription  – “Euskia the irreproachable, who lived an honest and noble life of more or less twenty-five years, died on the feast day of my Lady Lucia, for whom no praise is sufficient….” This attests to the veneration of St. Lucy, the patron saint of Syracuse, as early as the 5th century A.D.
Also, the magnificent Sarcophagus of Adelphia, datable to the second quarter of the 4th century A.D., shows Adelphia and her husband Valerio in a central roundel with scenes from the Old and New Testament above and below.

Sadly we said goodbye to Syracuse and boarded the 14:30 bus for Pozzallo to catch the ferry to Valletta in Malta. The Virtu Ferries ‘Jean De La Vallette’ departed Pozzallo at 19:00 and arrived at 20:45 in Valletta after a smooth crossing.

A short taxi ride later brought our travellers to their accommodation, The Villa del Porto guest house in the adjacent district of Kalkara.

Friday, 3 May 2024

Cheeky Chaplain with Anna and Edward landed safely at Catania Airport at 22:30 after an uneventful flight from London. Having picked up our hire car, the pilgrims headed north to Taormina, arriving at our delightful apartment, Casa Vico Romano2, some time after 1:00! We retired for the night, without supper, tired but content.

Saturday, 4May 2024

The pilgrims travel from Taormina to Mount Etna which showed its activity by sending a column of white smoke up into the sky. Apostle Paul may well have witnessed its activity on sailing from Syracuse to Rhegium?

In the afternoon the party returned to Taormina and visited the splendid Greek Theatre (much rebuilt in the Roman period) and the Roman baths (which are in need of interpretive signage).

That evening saw an excellent dinner in joint celebration of the birthdays of Edward and Cheeky Chaplain.

On Friday, 3 May 2024, Cheeky Chaplain sets off on the next leg of his pilgrimage ‘In the footsteps of St. Paul’, this time to Syracuse and Malta.
He hopes to visit Etna, Syracuse, Valletta, Rabat and Saint Paul’s Bay.

Do take a look at the Syracuse and Melita web-site pages and please add your comments (and prayers) to this blog.