Mdina, Malta, Tales of the silent city

Malta, a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea.

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The first capital of Malta, a fortified city, Mdina, was built by the Phoenicians in the eighth century BC.

From the 8th to the 11th century, Malta was ruled by the Arabs, the Normans ruled from the 11th to the 13th century, and at the beginning of the 16th century, the Crusader Knights arrived in Malta, when they moved the capital to the east coast, to the newly built cities, and Valletta became the capital.
After the loss of the status of the capital, Medina remains without a population that moves to Valletta and then Medina gets the name "City of Silence", and at the peak of its development it was "Citta Notabile (City of Nobility)".

Even today, the descendants of those noble families live in the city, totaling about 300 inhabitants, and it is possible to visit the palaces where the noble families lived.
Pallazo Falson, Vilhena Palace...

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And how do you get into the fortified city?

Best through the world-famous gate, The main city gate, the passage through the fortified walls is the Il-Bieb tal-Imdina(Vilhena gate), which served as a scenery in the scene of the King's Landing in "Game of Thrones" series, in the movie "Count of Monte Cristo (2002)" or "Gladiator (2000)".

Namely, many scenes in that series and movies were filmed in Malta...

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As soon as you enter the fortified city, the Vilhena palace awaits you on the right.

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And there is the favorite form of transportation in Mdina, carriages.

I found an old cannon and took a picture next to it.

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St. Paul's Cathedral, the oldest church in Malta is located below in the large square.

If you enter the Camelita church, you can admire the beautifully painted dome as well as the richly decorated interior.

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Walking through the Medina, you pass beautiful gardens and several palaces.

You can buy a ticket with a detailed tour or just take a short look. We pass by the Palazzo de Piro 17th-century palace built by Malta's most famous architect, Girolamo Cassar, and take a look at the interior.

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We continued our walk to the other part of the city, where we were offered an incredible view of the surroundings from the observation deck point, from the fortified walls of the city.

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Narrow streets, plenty of souvenir shops, glassware, knights' equipment, beautiful facades with balconies, restaurants...

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All blended into the appearance of this medieval "Town of silence".
All that was heard was the wind that blew non-stop. So much so that he drove us to a cafe for a break.

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After a break, we decided to visit nearby Rabat.
Rabat is a city that was created as a continuation of Mdina in the Middle Ages, but after leaving Medina as the capital, it began to develop independently and became today much larger than Medina. people live a normal life in it.
It is not a museum city, but it can easily be called a gallery city.

Rabat is a city with many churches, restaurants and small squares, with beautiful balconies and street decorations.

I'm sorry that we didn't have more time, so we missed one important attraction of Rabat.
But something has to be missed, so that next time there will be something to see.
The catacombs, which are under the whole of Rabat, remain on the wish list for the next tour.

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Thank you for stopping by my post and I hope you enjoyed the photos and the story I shared with you

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All photos are my property, taken with a mobile phone

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