Mdina is the old capital and is situated in the centre of the Island of Malta. Like the other cities it has a fortified citadel on a hilltop commanding a magnificent view of the countryside.

View from the Citadel, Mdina.

The first time I visited was with a friend who drove me there on a Sunday evening. As it was Mothers' Day, everything was closed for business, and I was able to see the city in "uncommercial" mode. The second time I went there was with my daughter and we caught a bus in the morning and spent most of the day there. It was a cold day with a nasty wind which brought sand and haze from Africa. The wind blew for three days and sand coated everything but it made for interesting photographic effects.

On that second visit everything was open and very touristy. A number of people with houses there used the front part of the house and through to the garden courtyards as either gift shops or cafes and there were also cafes on the ramparts. We had lunch at one of these cafes and enjoyed wonderful views and, even through the haze, gained quite a measure of sunburn. I bought two denim hats while I was in Malta - a green one and a blue one so that I could colour-co-ordinate.

The streets of Mdina are narrow and the houses high with predominately blank walls facing the streets: The houses in Malta are build around courtyard gardens and particularly in Mdina there is little to see from the outside. However, most houses had beautiful brass knockers on their rather forbidding doors and the windows which overlooked the streets had decorative balconies where the ladies of the house could watch the passing parade. It is said that the streets are straight only for the distance of an arrow's flight, a defensive measure in a fortified city.

The streets are only straight for the length of an arrow's flight.

The citadel is accessed by way of a City Gate via a narrow bridge over a ditch

Mdina City Gate

which has been utilised in a more attractive way than the great ditch around Valletta; there is an orange grove.

The orange grove in the Ditch outside the walls of the Citadel

The gift shops were, for the most part, better than those in Valletta and I almost bought something at one of them. Most shops carried Mdina glass which was promoted all over the island, and handmade lace which is one of the traditional crafts.

The Cathedral

The cathedral dominated the city square with the usual pair of cannons on the steps - a reminder that The Order of St John was a fighting order.

A pair of cannon on the steps of the Cathedral.

Because I was able to use my flash inside the cathedral most of the photos turned out reasonably well. Like all the churches I visited in Malta, the cathedral was richly decorated and had an inlaid marble floor. Unlike the cathedral on Gozo where there was not sufficient money to build a dome, the Cathedral of St Paul has a beautiful dome.

The Dome.

Outside the Citadel of Mdina is the town of Rabat which we had a quick wander around but found nothing there of particular interest. However, there are early Christian catacombs and a Roman Villa. We did not have time to visit the catacombs and as my daughter had very definite views about "stumbling around Roman ruins" I decided to leave them for another visit which I hope to make at a later date.