An Electric Birthday in the Three Cities

We’ve been staying on Valletta, which is the largest peninsular jutting into the Grand Harbour. Across the water are two more fingers of land called jointly The Three Cities. These were first called Birgu, Birmla and Isla, but after the Great Siege they were renamed, Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea although locals still use the old names.

Chris’s birthday treat was a tour with The Rolling Geeks which was an easy way to explore the area with minimal walking and would hopefully prove an adventure!

The sky was grey as far as the eye could see and the rain was pounding down as we crossed on the ferry – so no photos! The rain miraculously stopped as we turned into the harbour, but it remained grey.

Rolling Geeks was just a short walk, and we were introduced to our rolling geek, an electric golf trolley fitted with a pre-programmed GPS and tour commentary, but most importantly as it turned out, with a rain cover!

Chris soon got the hang of driving, and at a top speed of 20mph, there was plenty of chance to look around. Our first stop was at Fort Verdala, fortified barracks built by the British within existing C17th bastions.

The fort was used as a prisoner-of-war camp in both World Wars and is now social housing.

Once at the Senglea waterfront it was time for coffee and cake …

… then on for a good view towards Valletta …

… and birthday boy with Fort Angelo behind …

… then we waited for this huge shop to be guided by the pilot out of the harbour.

While we were stopped, we played with the inbuilt selfie button, and later they sent us the photo.

The rain started again as we stopped at the Gardjola Garden at end of the peninsular …

… but still got this great shot towards Valletta.

The walled part of Vittoriosa was the gem, being able to drive round the narrow streets in the rain. We saw one car that really struggled, finding the steep slippery wet stone a challenge but we were able to roll with it! The rain stopped and we parked and had a wander to take some pics, Chris in his element as he loves a bit of wet shiny stone!

A final stop by the harbour …

… and we were back, perfectly timed so we could get back to the ferry before the next downpour!

It had been such a great idea, as it would have been hard to find a better alternative in the rain on a Sunday when many places are closed. We returned to find our room decorated with a huge cake …

… and glasses of Prosecco to enjoy in the jacuzzi.

Map