Sunday, January 31, 2010

Rabbat To Attard

Cross over Howard Gardens and you're out of Mdina and into Rabat, a farming town with three main sights: St Paul's Church and Grotto - a large, gloomy place built above a cave where the saint was supposedly interred for three months - and, a few hundred metres away and almost directly opposite each other, the catacombs of Saint Paul and Saint Agatha (because you just can't name an underground burial chamber after one saint without them all wanting one of their own).

It was early and I didn't want to go back to Valletta so I took the bus to Attard instead, navigating my way through several turns of the map to San Anton Palace, the offical home of the Maltese president. Its garden was almost the size of Mdina with more workmen than visitors and more stray cats and ducks than both put together. I found myself a deserted bench by one of the many fountains and attempted, unsuccessfully, to shell a hard boiled egg.

No comments: