Rabat & St. Paul

Enough of this being sick!  William is up for an outing so on this nice Monday morning we catch the #48 bus then connect to the #186 to Medina/Rabat.  We are not as lucky with the bus timings as the last time we took this route and it takes us approximately 1 1/2 hours with the extra waiting.  Oh well, it's a nice day to be out and about.

Our primary interest is St. Paul's Catacombs and St. Paul's Grotto.  It's a pleasant 15 minute walk from the bus stop.  When we arrive we're pleased to learn that the €5 admission includes the catacombs, the grotto, WWII Shelters and the Wignacourt Museum.

St. Paul's Grotto is where St. Paul spent 3 months when he was shipwrecked on his trip from Crete to Rome.  It is also where St. Paul first began to preach Christianity to the Maltese people.  Malta remains a very Christian country, with the Maltese Constitution establishing Catholicism as the state religion.  The grotto feels quite small, but it is easy to see how a small group could live in the space.  It is now adorned with alters and statues.

The catacombs are dated from the 4th to the 9th centuries, AD.  There is much better lighting than I remember in the Roman catacombs we visited 10+ years ago.  William and I meander through the catacombs for 45 minutes stopping to see the gravesites.  Some of the passages are tight and/or low.  William's hat saves him from scraping his head at several points along our journey.

We make our way to the WWII shelters, which were built below the catacombs.  Malta holds the record for the heaviest, sustained bombing attack - 154 days and nights and 6,700 tons of bombs.  The Maltese people carved out from the limestone long corridors with rooms off to the sides as bomb shelters.  The corridors were the public shelter, where most people waited out the air-raid alert and slept. The rooms were ‘private’.  Better-off families paid for a stretch of wall 6ft long into which to build a family shelter. Some of these family rooms contained tiled floors, painted walls and it is reported even had art (paintings or tapestries) on the walls!

Our last stop in the complex is the Wignacourt Museum, a former residence of the Knights of Malta.  On the first floor it contains an antique Austin Six car used by the Archbishop.  There's also some rooms containing sculptures and artifacts collected by the church. The head of a cherub is a little disconcerting.

The second floor has multiple galleries.  In one we find portraits of the Grand Masters, always with the Maltese Cross included in their clothing or jewelry.  I find the Treasury fascinating.  The Treasurer had an adjacent bedroom which includes a ladder to the treasure chest (literally a large chest which contained the treasures of the Knights).  We also find a chapel with an interesting starburst style altarpiece.

Back out on the streets of Rabat we take in the local culture.  We find a group enjoying some food and beverage at a local snack bar.  The side streets of Rabat are a delight of color and limestone walls.  And, as is often the case, we find an historic church which is undergoing renovations.

Our return home on the bus is easy - we catch it at the first stop in Rabat and don't have any issues finding a seat.