17th April 2026

St Catherine’s Monastery is home to a community of Augustinian nuns. Since 2023 the cloisters, garden and crypt underneath the monastery have been made available to the public – known as the Mysterium Fidei museum. As this was right opposite our hotel we started there on our first full day in Valletta. After the many ornate churches we had visited in Gozo I found its simplicity a breath of fresh air.

However, simplicity did not last! Just round the corner from St Catherine’s is Black Friars, private chapels of the Dominican Order which have also recently been opened to the public after 300 years. We were back to ornate, and then some!

Even this did not prepare us for St John’s Co-Cathedral, built in the 16th century but given a wild Baroque makeover in the 1660s. It was overwhelming.

As a palate cleanser from all that we were happy to wander around outside for the rest of the day. The 1950s Triton Fountain at the entrance to Valletta from Floriana is attractive and we enjoyed an outdoor photography exhibition in the big square around it, although that was a bit harrowing – a documentation of women and girls in war zones by Iranian-French photojournalist Reza Deghati.

To finish with, a gallery of Valletta street scenes. You can see from one of them just how steep it is.

The next day we caught a ferry across the harbour to Vittoriosa.