Day 5 - Rainy Day - Malta Maritime Museum

Many of our traveling companions live in California which had been experiencing years of drought. The prospect of a rainy day made them giddy, and they spent a lot of time over breakfast discussing the rain gear they should bring on our trek to the Malta Maritime Museum.

We, on the other hand, experience far more rainy days than we would like at our home on the Windward Side of Oahu. We hoped the rain would not come as predicted and made no concessions to it. If it did rain, we figured, we would just get wet.

The museum is in Birgu, directly across the harbor from Valletta.

To get from Valletta to Birgu you can go around the Grand Harbor which takes about 20 minutes by car or take a more direct route - down the Upper Barrakka lift near the city gate to the waterfront, and across the harbor on the ferry. We opted to go by lift and ferry.

Some men rowing water taxis approached as we searched for the ferry. They offered to take us across the water, and we decided that going with them looked like more fun.

They dropped us off in a strange little cove next to Fort St. Angelo.

The Museum was just a short walk along the waterfront past expensive-looking yachts.

The building which houses the museum was the Royal Naval Bakery back in the 1800's. Its collection includes models of ships, paintings, uniforms, anchors, weights, and even a figurehead from the HMS Hibernia.

After enjoying the exhibits, we stopped in a nearby cafe for lunch and cold beer.

After lunch thunder gently rumbled and the rain began to fall. We wandered the streets for awhile with our well-equiped-for-the-rain California friends until we were cold and wet. Then we headed back to the hotel to dry off.

Malta is beautiful, even in the rain.