Telegraph Travel 04/03/2014: Our Malta expert offers a guide to the island's top free attractions, in Valletta and beyond.
 |
"Valletta was intended to be impregnable and for
200 years nobody even dared attempt invasion" |
City Gate
I always get a buzz crossing the bridge over the ditch and passing through the great bastion walls into Valletta. This has been the main entrance to the city since it was built by the Knights of Malta in mid-16th century. It is the place to start aMA visit to Valletta. Now the buzz is a little different. The great stone walls are unchanged, but the bridge, gateway and area just inside the gate have all been remodelled by the architect of the London Shard, Renzo Piano. This is not the iconoclasm it may first appear. The area was bombed during the Second World War and suffered ugly 1960s 'renovation'. The current project is a brave way to avoid dull compromise. It is controversial, of course. The new gateway is...
read on.
