We docked at Valletta, Malta this morning at sunrise. This island of about 400,000 residents is steeped in the history of battles for its ownership. For centuries it was said that the country or power that held Malta controlled the Mediterranean.
We took a three-city bus ride and hour long harbor cruise and left knowing it was the right excursion choice (about $50 each for four and a half hours). The tour guide told us we had seen about half the island of 300 square miles. Lunch was back on ship and the Equinox sailed at 5 p.m. I left Malta hoping to return to the place where St. Paul was shipwrecked as he spread the Gospel and where vestiges of battles throughout the centuries are embedded in its fortress walls.