Valletta in 3 days

Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples (UNESCO World Heritage 1980 — the prehistoric megalithic temples of Malta and Gozo; constructed 3600-2500 BCE; among the world's oldest free-standing stone structures — older than Stonehenge (constructed 2500-2000 BCE) and older than the Egyptian pyramids (the Great Pyramid of Giza was built approximately 2560 BCE)): the temples (the Maltese megalithic temples are the product of the Maltese Temple Period (3600-2500 BCE) — an isolated prehistoric culture that developed on the Maltese islands independently of the mainland Bronze Age civilisations; the temple builders are known only from the buildings (they left no written records, no metal, no pottery traditions comparable to the mainstream Mediterranean cultures); the architectural achievement (the largest stones at Ħaġar Qim weigh 20 tonnes and are positioned with remarkable precision; the main altar niche at Ħaġar Qim is aligned to face the summer solstice sunrise — the sun illuminates the altar directly at dawn on the longest day of the year; the Mnajdra south temple lower court is aligned to the equinox sunrise (the equinox sun shines through the main doorway and illuminates the central altar precisely)); the Fat Lady figurines (the "Fat Lady" statues — the distinctive Maltese prehistoric female figures with exaggerated rounded forms; the originals are in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta; the interpretation of the figures is disputed (the fertility deity hypothesis is the most common)).

Blue Grotto (Il-Blata l-Bajda — the sea cave complex on the southern coast of Malta, 1 km west of the Ħaġar Qim temples; the most dramatic coastal scenery on the Maltese islands): the grotto (the Blue Grotto is a complex of 6 sea caves (the largest is 30 m wide and 8 m high) cut into the limestone cliff face by wave erosion; the most spectacular visual feature of the Blue Grotto is the electric-blue luminescence of the water inside the caves (the effect is caused by the sunlight entering through the underwater cave openings and illuminating the white sandy bottom through the clear, shallow seawater (the Maltese coastal waters are among the clearest in the Mediterranean (visibility: 35-40 m underwater); the blue-white light of the reflected sand floor creates the "electric blue" effect that makes the Blue Grotto one of the most photographed coastal sites in Malta)); the boat tour (the traditional Maltese luzzu (the brightly coloured wooden fishing boat — the luzzu is painted with the Eye of Osiris on the prow (the decorative eye symbol is pre-historic in Malta and is associated with the Phoenician and later the Medieval Christian boat painting tradition)) takes visitors from the Blue Grotto wharf into the sea caves; tour time 20-25 min; the best time is in the morning when the sun angle provides the maximum electric-blue illumination inside the caves).

Mdina (L-Imdina — "The Enclosed City"; medieval capital of Malta; population 300 — the smallest walled city by population in Europe; on the hilltop in the centre of Malta; 13 km from Valletta): the history (Mdina was the capital of Malta from the Roman period to 1530, when the Knights of St. John arrived and chose the Birgu peninsula (now Vittoriosa/Birgu) as their headquarters, then Valletta after 1566; the city's population declined after the Knights moved their capital to Valletta, and today only 300 people live within the Mdina walls — giving the city its most famous nickname "Il-Belt Sewda" (the Silent City), which is particularly accurate during the evenings when the day-trippers have left); the fortifications (the Mdina walls — originally Norman walls of the 11th-12th century, substantially rebuilt by the Grand Master António Manoel de Vilhena in the Baroque style (1720s); the Mdina Gate (Porta Principale — the most ornate city gate on Malta: the Baroque limestone gate with the busts of the Grand Master Vilhena, Saint Paul and Saint Publius)); the Cathedral of St. Paul (the Mdina Cathedral — built 1697-1702 on the site of the house of Publius, the Roman governor of Malta who converted to Christianity after St. Paul's shipwreck on Malta in 60 CE; the Baroque interior with the Mattia Preti altarpiece)); the view from the Mdina bastions (the panoramic view over the entire Maltese island — the most comprehensive single view of Malta's landscape).

Rabat and Maltese dinner (the town immediately outside the Mdina walls): St. Paul's Catacombs (the most extensive network of underground burial chambers in Malta; dating from the 3rd-8th century CE; the catacombs were used by both the Christian and the Jewish communities of Roman Malta for burial; the most significant single site: the ceiling of St. Paul's Crypt (the small chapel beneath the Basilica of St. Paul in Rabat — the traditional site of St. Paul's 3-month residence in Malta after his 60 CE shipwreck on the island; the Acts of the Apostles describes the shipwreck in detail and the conversion of the Roman governor Publius)); the traditional Maltese dinner (the Maltese cuisine is the meeting point of the Mediterranean, Sicilian, North African and British food traditions): the braġjoli (the Maltese beef olive — the thin slice of beef stuffed with minced meat, herbs, garlic and bacon, rolled and braised in red wine; the most characteristically Maltese main course); the ftira (the ring-shaped Maltese bread), the bigilla (the broad bean and garlic dip), the ġbejniet (the small fresh Maltese goats' cheese — the traditional cheeselets from the small goat farms of Gozo and Malta; eaten fresh (the tender white cheese) or dried and peppered (the mature peppercorn cheese)), the Maltese wine (the Marsovin and Meridiana wineries of Malta produce the Gellewża (the native Maltese red grape variety) and the Ġellewża Rosé).

The Three Cities (Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua — the three fortified settlements across the Grand Harbour from Valletta; the most historic urban area of Malta): Birgu (Vittoriosa — the "Victorious" — the city where the Knights of St. John established their first headquarters in Malta (1530); the most significant site: Fort St. Angelo (the medieval fortress on the promontory tip of Birgu — the HQ of the Grand Master Jean Parisot de Valette during the Great Siege of 1565; the Fort St. Angelo was the last defensive position of the Knights during the siege (the fort held through the entire 112-day siege while the outer fortifications fell to the Ottomans); the marina (the Birgu waterfront (the Vittoriosa Marina) with the traditional Maltese luzzu fishing boats and the superyachts side by side in the most historic harbour in Malta)); the Inquisitor's Palace (the Birgu Inquisitor's Palace — the only surviving complete Inquisitor's Palace in the world (the seat of the Papal Inquisition in Malta, 1574-1798); the prison cells, the interrogation rooms and the Inquisitor's private apartments are the most chilling historic site in Malta); the water taxi (the traditional dghajsa (the curved-prow water taxi of the Grand Harbour) ferry between the Valletta waterfront and the Three Cities waterfront (5 min; €1.50 one way)).

National Museum of Archaeology (in the Auberge de Provence — the 1571 building of the Langue de Provence of the Order of St. John; the most important archaeology museum in Malta): the collection (the artefacts from the Maltese megalithic temple period (3600-2500 BCE) and the subsequent Bronze Age and Phoenician periods): the "Fat Lady" statues (the Maltese prehistoric female figurines — the most famous artefact in Maltese archaeology: the exaggerated round forms (the enormous thighs and lower body; the minimal facial features; the absence of heads on many specimens); the largest examples (the "Sleeping Lady" from the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum — the reclining figure on a couch or bed; the most delicate and technically accomplished of the Maltese prehistoric figurines) and the "Venus of Malta" (the large seated figure from the Tarxien Temples — the lower section of a large statue (1.5 m original height) that was deliberately broken in antiquity)); the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum (the underground prehistoric burial complex — UNESCO World Heritage 1980; the only known prehistoric underground temple in the world; built 3300-3000 BCE; the subterranean rock-cut chamber complex with the "Main Chamber" and the "Holy of Holies" decorated with red ochre paintings (the most ancient red ochre paintings in the Mediterranean world); strictly limited visitor numbers (80 per day) require advance booking 6+ months ahead).

Upper Barrakka Gardens (Ġnien il-Barrakka ta' Fuq — the formal garden on the top of the Valletta bastions, 55 m above the Grand Harbour; the finest panoramic viewpoint in Valletta): the gardens (the garden was established in the 17th century as a private garden for the Auberge de l'Italie (the Italian Langue of the Order of St. John); converted to a public garden by the British in 1824; the colonnaded loggia (the 17th-century arcaded terrace that forms the southern edge of the garden — the most characteristic view of Valletta; the colonnade with the hanging baskets of flowers forms the backdrop to the panoramic view of the Grand Harbour)); the Saluting Battery (the historic artillery battery below the Upper Barrakka Gardens — the canon salute (the Saluting Battery fires a noon gun salvo every day at noon as part of the historic "time signal" tradition of maritime harbours; the salute can be heard across the entire Grand Harbour)); the Grand Harbour view from the Upper Barrakka (the view from the gardens encompasses: Fort St. Angelo (straight across the harbour), the Three Cities beyond, the fortified headlands of Senglea and Cospicua, the French Creek and Dockyard Creek, the open Mediterranean to the south); photography (the Upper Barrakka Gardens is the single most photographed viewpoint in Malta — the image of the Grand Harbour from the colonnade appears in virtually every Malta tourism publication).

Gozo day trip or final Valletta evening (Gozo — the second island of Malta; 67 km² island 25 min by ferry from Cirkewwa on the north of Malta (30 km from Valletta by bus + ferry); the most beautiful landscape in the Maltese islands (the fields of Gozo (the dry-stone terraced fields, the baroque churches that dwarf the villages below them, the Victoria Citadel on the hilltop)); the Azure Window (the natural limestone arch that collapsed in 2017 — now an underwater dive site); alternatively: the final Valletta evening devoted to the Caravaggio presence in Malta (the two Caravaggio masterpieces in Valletta are both in St. John's Co-Cathedral: "The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist" (1608) and "Saint Jerome Writing" (1608); Caravaggio arrived in Malta in July 1607, was admitted to the Order of St. John as a Knight of Obedience (the knighthood that required no noble lineage) in recognition of his artistic genius; his "Beheading" was described by Roberto Longhi as "the greatest painting in the world"; he was expelled from the Order in disgrace in December 1608 after a brawl in which he wounded a fellow Knight of Justice; he fled to Sicily, then Naples, dying in Porto Ercole in 1610 at 38 years old — the only Caravaggio painting he ever signed (in the victim's blood) is in Valletta).