Exploring Malta: Mdina and Rabat

During our one week holiday in Malta, we rented a car for 2 days intending on hunting down some sights. Mdina was a town we had our eyes on, due to some footage of it in the popular series, 'Game of Thrones' of which I am a rather big fan.

The sight of it from a distance was striking, and I had to pull over our bottom of the range rent-a-car so I could take this scenic snap.

Mdina itself is the walled city part, and the surrounding area seems to be called Rabat. I thought Rabat was the capital of Morocco, but Malta have their own version of it too.

The roads and streets are very narrow outside Mdina but we found a car park that appeared to be free. No parking meters, or attendants or was there? There was a bloke mooching about and perhaps pretending to accept money for parking.

Perhaps it is optional, I’m really not sure. Seeing as I loathe to pay to dump my vehicle I chose to ignore him.

The next thing we did was very stupid and please heed this warning if visiting Rabat and Mdina. Avoid the ice cream shops.

There is one right next to the big car park and the ice cream is great, if you like to pay 7.60 euros for one that is. This is a single cone, overflowing so much that it drips from the first second. A great tactic guys!

There are no prices shown and for good reason! They would not sell any if they were displayed.

So we had the ice cream, dripping all over us before we were the asked for this exorbitant amount. Half of it was all over my hands by this time, so we could hardly refuse.

@bingbabe was less than happy, but it was a lesson learned.

We had learned of St Paul’s Catacombs from a guide book I was reading and so we ventured into the depths of the town to try and find them, complete with sticky fingers.

We found typical Mediterranean narrow streets and lots of old architecture. Malta is full of ancient buildings and this is a boon if this kind of thing. This sign told us we were on the right track.

St Paul’s Grotto and Catacombs? Surely this must be it, no.. it’s something similar but not the real thing. We should have backed out and found the REAL St Paul’s Catacombs at this point but we carried on anyway.

I have to admit, it was quite creepy down there. It was latish afternoon and the place was about to close. Perhaps this is why it was deserted and we had this feeling of being alone.

The catacombs were designed in such a way that you couldn’t get lost but were still extensive. The further down you ventured, the colder it became.

We didn’t stay for long as @bingbabe was getting a little creeped out.

Looking for the the real catacombs yielded yet more charlatans along the way! Is this place FULL of dungeons and caves below our feet?

At last we found it and was greeted by the grounds man who proclaimed, ‘we are closed’. We had had our fill of them anyway by then.

Mdina, the walled city was next. Free to enter and surely I could get my ‘Game of Thrones’ deserted street shot?

I think I got several, what do you think? Could you see Arya Stark skulking down this street?

Or maybe this one?

The views from the city walls were great and extensive so much that we could see the ocean in the distance.

The familiar sense of vertigo got me as I took these. I hate holding my phone over walls and always feel its going to slip out of my hands.

The walls of the city feel positively ancient. You know bad things have happened here in the past due to the sheer age of the place,

There was still room for an old British red telephone kiosk and mailbox. Plenty were hovering around for photographs and I had to wait my turn. The 'Cardphone' kind of ruined the authenticity.

I’m not really one for churches, and in Malta every step you take seems to present a new one to you.

@bingbabe kept going in them as she’s the religious type and I snuck into this one for some sneaky photos. The architecture is lovely, but aren’t they all?

Mdina is worth a visit, but if you do go visit the REAL catacombs and buy a Cornetto somewhere else outside the city before you enter.