Saturday 1 June  -  St Julian's
Today's goal was the North hop-on-hop-off bus, thus circumnavating Malta. There were 3 main must-see sites, but we really ran out of time to do the third properly.
First hop-off was the Aviation Museum which Peter will write up in every little detail with illustrations  for you. I was happy to have a conversation with the Museum cat, but then I wandered into one hangar that was screening details of the Second Great Seige of Malta - a superb documentary which I could relate to after the enlightening day we had yesterday. Unfortunately I missed the start of it so only saw from the Valetta Harbiur entry of the SS Orion through to the Declaration of Independence in the 1970s.  I couldn't go back to the start as our bus was due to arrive.
On we went to Mosta which lies at the heart of Malta. At its centre is a magnificent domed church completed in 1860. On 9 April 1942 the church was hit by a bomb dropped by a German. It pierced the dome and fell to the floor but lay dormant thereby saving the lives of the 300 devout worshippers there at the time. The German returned to Malta after the war to seek forgiveness. There is of course an entry fee to the church, and more to visit the bomb shelter. We declined the additional fee to climb the 76 steps to the dome. I am struggling now to climb the steps onto all the buses let alone 76 of them to see the view.
Back onto the trusty hop-on-hop-off bus to Mdina which is the old capital of Malta with its origins traced back to 1500 BC. Impressive palaces line its narrow streets. It is considered one of the finest examples of an ancient walled city.
There are many sights on offer there but we chose an epic adventure museum called The Knights of Malta which traced the brutal history of the Knights through to the present day. By the time we emerged from that breathtaking experience we got lost in the maze in our attempts to find the church.  We got into one which was under restoration and plunged in gloom. I can't believe it was THE one but it was time to catch the next bus. I had to go into one of the many shops to ask for our way out of the city and onto the bus. We would have liked far more time there but we just can't do it all.