Mdina, the former capital of Malta, carries the weight of its long history. Protected by its ancient walls the centre has remained largely untouched by modernity. Winding streets are lined with a mix of baroque and medieval architecture. There are churches and grand palaces interspersed with more modest homes, all of them beautiful.
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Malta’s capital is small but beautiful! Its historic heart sits on a peninsula between two harbours and is protected by a series of fortifications. Inside, the grandeur of many of its buildings reflects the wealth of the Order of Saint John whose Grand Master, Jean de Valette, founded the city to strengthen the Order's position in Malta and bind the Knights to the island.
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According to Cicero, the greatest of Greek cities wasn’t in Greece itself but in Sicily. He described Ortigia, the original heart of modern-day Syracuse, as ‘the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all’. Situated on a small island, the city was founded by the Greek settlers from Corinth in 743 B.C.
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While I try to avoid too many picture postcard souvenir shots when I travel, it’s inevitable that I will take some. I feel the need to record what I see initially, before diving deeper into the sights, looking for details or angles that are less obvious.
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The Romans built the city of Netum on the slopes of Mount Alveria in south-east Sicily. Legend tells that Daedalus stayed in this city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task. Over the following centuries it flourished, until in 1693 disaster struck, in the form of an earthquake. Most of the buildings were razed to the ground and over half the population perished.
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Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one? Maybe not, but there is one sort of ‘ghost’ we can all see: the ghost sign. I’m not a dedicated ghost sign hunter, but I do like to spot them and always take a photo when I do.
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Randazzo is the nearest town to the summit of Mount Etna, lying on its northern slopes. Its architecture reflects its location. Many of the older buildings here are constructed from the black lava stone from Etna, giving them a very distinct appearance.
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This beautiful hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily is understandably a magnet for tourists. Sitting high above the coast in the shadow of (very) active Mount Etna, it has everything you might hope for in such a town. Vistas of both sea and mountains; ancient ochre-coloured buildings glowing in the Sicilian sun; great restaurants and quality shopping; narrow lanes and bustling squares lined with cafés for people-watching; a small but beautiful cathedral; and to top it all an ancient Greek theatre still in use today.
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Once upon a time all photos were black and white. With the advent of colour photography we had a choice and many of us make that choice according to subject matter. Others meanwhile prefer to stick only to one or the other medium. But some subjects are naturally black and white.
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These traditional balconies are found all over Malta. Their origins go back to the Arabic architectural feature of a muxrabija. This was a wooden frame which screened the window space completely. It allowed a person on the inside to observe all that was going on outside, whilst not being visible to anyone in the street below.
