The City of Valletta is an incredible sight when arriving by boat, as sandy fortress walls rise up from the harbor, topped with gardens, church domes and spires, and tiers of balconied houses. When the sun hits the city, it is a beauty to behold.

Valletta, like Malta's other two World Heritage Sites, is among the oldest sites on the UNESCO list. I visited the site in late November 2019, but since I had only a limited amount of time on shore and I had a plan to visit all three Maltese World Heritage Sites, I was not able to devote as much time to the city as I had wanted (and it didn't help that I bled time by taking the wrong bus to the Hypogeum). Consequently, I was unable to visit St. John's Co-Cathedral, for which I know I need to return. That said, I did attend an evening service at the Collegiate Parish Church of St. Paul's Shipwreck, which has an exquisite interior and relics related to St. Paul, who, as the name implies, was shipwrecked on Malta.
Both the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Lower Barrakka Gardens were beautiful to stroll through, and I enjoyed wandering the streets all decorated for Christmas. Unfortunately there were some protests underway against the Maltese government when I visited, so some of the area around Parliament and the Auberge de Castile, which houses the Prime Minister's office, was closed off.

Valletta is most famous for being the home of the Order of St. John, or the Knights of Malta. Earlier in my trip I'd visited locations associated with this order, including the keyhole view of the Vatican from the Priory of the Knights of Malta on Aventine Hill in Rome, as well as the medieval city of Rhodes in Greece. The Grandmaster's Palace, which was formerly home to the head of the Order of St. John but is now home to the President of Malta, would have made a great visit to tie all of the sites together. However, like St. John's Co-Cathedral, the timing did not work out, and I will have to return to see the inside of the palace. Even though I did not get to see as much of Valletta as I would have liked, I was still very charmed by what I saw, and I am sure I will be back some day.

Logistics: Valletta is an easy city to walk around, but it does have hills. An elevator connects the port with the Upper Barrakka Gardens, while buses serving the island can be found at the plaza in front of the impressive City Gate.