Today I’m taking you to La Valletta, the capital of Maltawith some suggestions on what to do and what to see if you want to discover the Malta’s capital.
Let’s start this tour with the St. John’s Co Cathedral: I’m sure that you will be amazed by its beauty, as it happened to me! The reality is even more beautiful than how the cathedral appears in photos.
The ticket costs 10€ and includes audio-guide. Visitors can take photos, without flash, only in the cathedral while is forbidden in the museum and in the oratory. As for the clothing, if you have your legs or shoulders uncovered a person from the cathedral’s staff will give you something to cover.
Definitely very crowded, I recommend you to visit it as soon as possible during the day (my tip is to start from here your visit to La Valletta). Now I’m taking you to the Grand Master’s Palace, which today is the government’s headquarter. The ticket for the state rooms and the armory costs 8€ and 6€ to visit only the armory (In case of official visits the state rooms are not open to the public). We decided to avoid the visit of the interior (both for the armory and the state room), but simply to stop in the internal courtyard that already in itself, worth a short stop. Emboldened by the shadow of the Grand Master’s Palace, we decided to take a walk down to the sea. We come up to Fort St. Elmo, overlooking the large port city, where is the national war museum
(Opening hours: daily 9:00 to 18:00; tickets: 10€). We were not interested to visit it (we preferred the Air Force Museum in Ta ‘Qali) and we headed in search of a place to stop for lunch (and to protect even a bit’ from the heat). Very close to  Fort St. Elmo there is the memorial for the death in World War II.
Its bell rings every day at 12:00 (noon) and I recommend you to avoid to stand near it at that hour! This memorial overlooks the Great Harbour of La Valletta and everyone can see it from any point overlooking the harbor (and the view is simply beautiful). The memorial is very close to the Lower Barraka Gardens, gardens built on one of the many bastions of the city and also this gardens offers a stunning view on the sea (and the harbour). Inside the gardens is located a small doric temple built in honor of Alexander Ball, the first governor of Malta.
We also decided to visit the Upper Barraka Gardens, not far from the other gardens of which I spoke (captain obvious strikes again: “if there are the lower gardens it is obvious that somewhere there are also the upper gardens ).
The gardens overlook the Saluting Battery, a series of eight cannons which shots every day at noon and at 4pm to mark time. The Saluting Battery is open every day from 10:00 to 17:00. The ticket costs 2€ (children under 16 go free). For 1€ you can also take audio guides. You can find all the information on the battery official website and on the Maltese tourism board official website. Within the gardens, which were our last stop, there is also the entrance to the Lascaris war room (entrance fee: 3€). We decided to avoid also this museum: our tour, as often happened to me, was based mostly on a long walk to discover the city passing by its streets. During our tour the thing that struck me the most was the high number of balconies converted to small verandas.