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St John's Co-Cathedral Valletta Malta?


WallyNDiane
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I am researching our Oct 17 Celebrity Cruise excursions. One possibility in Valletta is just walking the streets all day or splitting Valletta with a trip to Mdina. How long does it take to walk from the cruise dock to St John's Co-Cathedral?

 

This cathedral is definately on our must see list in Valletta. Just trying to determine our options. This is the last port of the cruise so we may be tiring out.

 

Any Valletta comments are appreciated. Thank you.

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As long as you go the easy route it shouldn't take you longer than 15-20 minutes to walk to the Co-cathedral. When you get out of the cruise terminal you'll want to turn right and walk towards the Barakka Lift. It costs a Euro but well worth it since the bulk of the old city is on the cliff top and quite the hike up. The lift will let you out at the Upper Barakka Gardens which is lovely vantage point over the harbor. Start walking down Castille Street and turn right on either Merchant Street (two blocks) or Republic Street (three blocks). Walk down 2.5 blocks. You can't miss the the Co-Cathedral. We entered from the Republic Street entrance but I think the main entrance is on Triq San Gwann.

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We were there in August and really enjoyed Mdina. We walked up to the bus station from the port. This is a steep walk, but we enjoy the walking. Took us about ten minutes. The bus takes about 30 minutes to get to Mdina. We enjoyed walking around that old town very much. It had amazing buildings and very interesting doors in all colors. It's very compact and easy to walk around. We rode the bus back to Valetta and wandered through those streets, the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens, etc. We took the lift back down (free going down) and walked back into the port. We were only in port from 12-8 and were back on the ship about 6. Sail in is something you don't want to miss. Beautiful!

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St Johns Co Cathedral is an amazing building, just check the opening times. We've been in Valletta three times and each time we've heard from people on board that they didn't get in. These have been people trying to get in during the afternoon. As above it's a 15-20 minute walk from the ship. We've also been to Mdina - there's a taxi rank directly outside the gates of the port. We jumped in the first taxi, about 20 Euros to Mdina, and got there before the ships tours, hop on hop off buses, etc and had the place more or less to ourselves. It's called the Silent City but once the buses start arriving you get big groups roaming around in narrow streets. We took the local bus back to Valletta and it drops you off at the main entrance to the city, so no walking up the hill.

Try not to miss the firing of the cannon at Midday and 4pm from the Barrack Gardens.

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We were in Malta on a Sunday so were able to go to a beautiful High Mass at St John's Co Cathedral. They do kick you out immediately so there was no opportunity to really enjoy the artwork of the church. We also went to The Church of St Paul's Shipwreck which is very close by. We loved the charm of this church and the friendliness of the parishioners. The Co Cathedral had the glitz and glitter but the Shipwreck church won our hearts. We took a cab to Mdina - If you go to the cab stand you can get a cab for the number of hours you want. We loved roaming around Malta and would love to go back one day.

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  • 1 month later...
I am researching our Oct 17 Celebrity Cruise excursions. One possibility in Valletta is just walking the streets all day or splitting Valletta with a trip to Mdina. How long does it take to walk from the cruise dock to St John's Co-Cathedral?

 

This cathedral is definately on our must see list in Valletta. Just trying to determine our options. This is the last port of the cruise so we may be tiring out.

 

Any Valletta comments are appreciated. Thank you.

 

St John's Co-Cathedral was spectacular! Make sure you get some kind of a guided tour as you will appreciated it even more when certain things are pointed out that you never would have noticed. I'm sure you are aware but just in case, they are very strict with their dress code. Enjoy Valletta!

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We were in Malta on a Sunday so were able to go to a beautiful High Mass at St John's Co Cathedral. They do kick you out immediately so there was no opportunity to really enjoy the artwork of the church.

Hint: get to Mass about 10-15 minutes early. You will be able to go in and discretely make your way down the aisles.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Very walkable, just round the corner is an amazing food place called ‘the submarine’ it is a hole in wall with the most amazing massive sandwiches. €3.50 freshly made to order always a queue outside. Check them out on trip advisor for the map. Also, an amazing little place just round the corner from them is the Maltese post museum. Here you can get a postal stamp made with your photograph on it. Photo needs to be landscape. Then write the postcard and send. A set of ten stamps with you on is €9.99

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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  • 2 weeks later...
We were in Malta on a Sunday so were able to go to a beautiful High Mass at St John's Co Cathedral. They do kick you out immediately so there was no opportunity to really enjoy the artwork of the church. We also went to The Church of St Paul's Shipwreck which is very close by. We loved the charm of this church and the friendliness of the parishioners. The Co Cathedral had the glitz and glitter but the Shipwreck church won our hearts. We took a cab to Mdina - If you go to the cab stand you can get a cab for the number of hours you want. We loved roaming around Malta and would love to go back one day.

 

We are in Malta on a Sunday also. Which Mass time is considered “high Mass”? I’m hoping we will have time to go to mass, take the bus to Mdina and back and not be too rushed.

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