I'm spending a lot of time on the bus to Valletta or waiting for it to arrive! Yesterday three buses sailed past before the right one turned up and stopped for me.
But I discovered some more about the capital city of Malta. I went up for an 11 am concert at St Catherine's of Italy where I have been going each Sunday and Thursday for their chamber music concerts to raise awareness and funds for the chapel's restoration. You can see St Catherine's in the photo that heads up this post. It is behind the outdoor stage that was set up for Notte Bianca in the bombed out opera house. This time at St Catherine's they were starting a series focusing on Scarlatti and his contemporaries and the young soprano who fronted the two violins and harpsichord was superb.
The chapel is situated behind the bombed opera house at the entrance gate to Valletta so it is in a significant position, particularly in the light of the amazing millenium project space that is located at St James Cavalier across the road. I stumbled on this creative arts centre by accident yesterday afternoon. The main entrance is from the square where the government offices are located (you can see one side of the government building in the photo above to the right of St Catherine's) but there are also points of access onto the street where the opera house crumbles. The original building was some kind of defensive tower that was then used to house two huge water tanks. At different times of occupation it was then used for other things including an officers' mess and a NAAFI. But the most recent re-cycling is the most stunning in terms of opening up the space. The two massive tank spaces have become a theatre where movies are shown and an atrium where sculpture exhibits are put on at different levels down the spiral walkway around the space. There is also a large, vaulted gallery exhibition space and a smaller installation space where the current exhibition is about multiculturalism and the five senses using interactive installations. I particularly liked the room where a large table is set up for dinner and the viewer is invited to sit down and become part of the various feasts from around the world that are projected from above onto the table. I sat down with some Scandinavian tourists and a Maltese woman with her little daughter and laughed as arms passed dishes round the table and presented me with delicacies.
It was complete chance that I investigated that amazing space on my way back to the bus terminus from lunch at the 3 Baronnes cafe. I had been down to try and get pastizzi cheesecakes for lunch at my favourite hole in the wall bakery down Republic street but found that it was closed on a Sunday so I called in to the Armoury and got one of the audiotours that seem to be the standard tourist accompaniment for many of the amazing sites now available in Malta. The Armoury is another stunning collection of artefacts, this time of weapons and armour since the time of the knights. The audiotape is interesting and helpful but is so extensive (you can press at least 90 numbers) and there are only a few numbers located in the numerous cases that the listener gives up on trying to keep track of the bombardment of pikes, styles of armour through the ages, canon, swords and various types of guns. Once again there were the huge tapestries in the State rooms but little description that I could locate. The theme here seemed to be the battle between the knights and the Turks.
I'm being tempted by one of the delicious cakes on display in the cabinet next to me so will add a photo and sign off. This afternoon I'm going up to Valletta again to hear a lecture from an architect who has the same surname, Frigiettera, that I have found on a collection of short stories from the library.
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