Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
She is one of the Maltese national treasures: the sleeping lady. The statue was found at the hypogeum of Ħal Saflieni, a neolithic necropolis. It is rather small but more than 4500 years old and seen as the representation of a goddess. Today you can’t visit her at the hypogeum which is nowadays a UNESCO world heritage site (and tickets are extremely hard to get), you can see her at the national museum of archaeology.
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In 2018 Valletta (and Leeuwarden) became European Capitals of Culture. This was a good reason to enhance the Mużew Nazzjonali tal-Arti (MUŻA) that was founded in 1974. It was moved from the Admirality House to the Auberge d’Italie bringing it closer to the parliament and city gate. Today it is located in a beautiful modern building and it’s fun to explore.
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Valletta has two nice public parks located facing the harbor: the Lower Barraka Gardens and the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Especially from the upper ones you can enjoy good views on the Grand Harbour, the fort St. Angelo and the Three Cities. It is located on the St. Peter and Paul bastion and contains different memorials and artworks, for example honoring Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill.
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The capital city of Malta, Valletta, is located on a headland facing the Mediterranean sea North and south of it are harbors and important cities can be found on the land behind. In the north it is Sliema and St. Julians that are modern cities with lots of hotels. In the south the Three Cities Cospicua, Senglea and Vittoriosa can be found with their ancient city structures. Maybe you choose a hotel in these areas, for sure you want to visit them and best to do so is taking one of the ferry boats.
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The capital city of Malta is a special one: mostly car free, located on a large headland in the harbor, surrounded by large ancient walls and connected by ferry boats to the cities around it. Valletta is named after Jean de la Vallette, the Grand Master of the Order of Malta that erected the city. We all know their unique Maltese cross and the organization that still exists today.
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Choosing a hotel in Malta isn’t easy if you want to see the capital city but also travel around by rental car. Typically, I would book a hotel close to the city center of the capital, but Valletta is mostly free of cars and the space is extremely limited. A viable alternative is to find a hotel at Sliema with a car park as the neighboring city has a particularly good ferry boat connection.
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Over the last decades cinemas have been facing a lot of concentration. Smaller ones are often lost and instead people visit larger multiplex movie theaters with the most modern technology, good catering, and most comfortable seats. But something gets lost if cinema would only mean multiplex cinemas. Fortunately, in Kassel smaller cinemas remained and one of them is the Gloria at the Ständeplatz, close to the city center.
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There is no typical zoological garden at Kassel. If you want one of these, you need to go to Hannover, Leipzig or Frankfurt. What exists is a privately operated zoo for small animals: the Zoo am Rammelsberg. The entrance is free of charge and the costs are covered by donations. Many people use the opportunity to see and feed some animals, but the conditions under which they’re held are often disputed.
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Cyprus is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and currently the most eastern part of the European Union. In fact, it is incredibly close to states like Syria or Lebanon. It is known as the island of Aphrodite (or Venus) and it has an interesting history. The whole island is part of the EU, but it is a divided island with an occupied Turkish northern part. Cyprus is a good place for a summer holiday, and it seems to be to the Russians what Mallorca means to the Germans. And it is a place for relaxation which can already be seen in the local philosophy of life: sigá, sigá; always slowly, always relaxed.
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The castle of Λάρνακα is just a small castle directly at the sea, but it is a nice photo spot, especially in the evenings. First fortifications in this area go back to the 12th century CE, but the city and the castle gained importance in medieval times and where enhanced and fortified when the Republic of Genoa conquered the north of the island, and the harbor of Famagusta was lost.
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