Malta: Spanish stronghold in the great Turkish siege
[tab:Travel] If you are looking for beautiful beaches, better not read. In Malta, go ahead, not find. But if you enjoy ferreting the traces of history, this is undoubtedly the island. VaP. traveled there to step on the stage of the great sixteenth-century Turkish siege, in which the struggle of the Spanish soldiers was decisive in defeating the Turkish Navy.
No need for museums and theme parks to understand the magnitude of the great Turkish siege of the island of Malta. The scenario of almost four months of bloody attacks, Grand Harbour of Malta, still there, as impregnable as in 1565, and the platform are more privileged to behold high Barracca Gardens, accessible in the hostel Castilla, in the heart of Valletta, the city that rose from the ashes of the historic race. There, resting on the railing, the traveler contemplates the rocky peninsulas absorbed Birgu (rebautizada como Vittoriosa) and Senglea. In the first still emerges as a stone colossus Castle San Angelo, the bastion that could not pay the Turkish troops. The fort of San Miguel, which decided the fate of battles, but gone. To our left, poke the walls of San Telmo saffron, the attackers were able to take the price of 8.000 dead.
No need for museums and theme parks to understand the magnitude of the great Turkish siege of the island of Malta. The scenario of almost four months of bloody attacks, Grand Harbour of Malta, still there, as impregnable as in 1565.
Given such enclave, not hard to imagine the entry by the mouth of the 200 Ottoman vessels sent by Suleiman the Magnificent, or guess the screaming the 45.000 soldiers willing to take Malta at all costs (Christian troop consisted of 5.000 gentlemen, nearly a thousand mercenaries and civilians Maltese, who helped in the race). The guns do not resonate now as then, nor are flying above the fire walls piñatas and pouches of boiling pitch thrown by the besieged, but the traveler is very present impressions of Italian Balbi de Correggio, the sole survivor in a diary which recorded the details of the siege: "The Turks came to assault everywhere, scales as well with the bridge, with both thunder and momentum seemed loving end the world ".
The tombs of the knights
In defense of Malta gave their lives many Spanish. Among the 5.000 Order members had almost five hundred compatriots; the arrival of a relief fleet from Sicily sent by Philip II routed the Turkish Navy, to the point that Correggio said that "after the omnipresent God", was the Spanish monarch "who has escaped to Malta, and even the whole of Italy, the superb power of Soldan Solyman ".
Garcia de Toledo and Alvaro de Bazan took much of the glory, but the real architects were those who resisted closely with the Knights of the Order, led by Jean de la Vallette, and the brave Maltese: Aragonese as Fray Hernando de Heredia and Juan de Guaras; Castellanos and Pedro de Mendoza and Francisco Medina; Catalans as Fray Melchor de Montserrat and Gabriel Gort; Galicians as Fray Pedro Pardo, "Madrid" as Bernardino de Cárdenas and much.
The men were placed in the wall grouped by country or language: English, French, German, Castilians and subjects of the Crown of Aragon, including many Catalans.
Thousands of Ottoman soldiers sought to conquer the last Grand Turk island where sheltering the cabaChristians lleros, Rhodes expelled years ago and, before, Holy Land. When two knights of the Order of Malta were captured, both were quick: Turks drew the weakest flank of Christian defenses. But the Ottomans, tired of a siege that seemed easy and began to become eternal, bone punctured and were repelled with the decisive participation of the Castilians. The two prisoners had duped the Ottomans and they had indicated the spot where stood the toughest defenders considered among the Christian troops.
The men were placed in the wall grouped by country or language: English, French, German, Castilians and subjects of the Crown of Aragon, including many Catalans. After the Turkish defeat, the two Christian prisoners were tortured to death. The deception had worked, the island was still holding. The siege was ongoing…
De Marsaxlokk in Vittoriosa
Following the trail of the Knights of the Order of Malta return on our steps. To the left of Castile born Shelter Street Merchants, that leads to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. When you enter the temple, although the look is exhausted to the domes of the nave imposing, observe the ground he walks. The whole plan of the church is full of dozens of graves of the defenders of the city. It is the best tribute to such heroic resistance. Entertain admiring ornamental drawings that accompany the epitaphs in Latin. Worth.
Leaving the cathedral, the very popular street of the Republic, the commercial heart of the city, takes you to the old Palace of the Grand Master, Parliament's current headquarters, which houses some fantastic tapestries on the great siege and liberation. Stop for a few minutes on the peaceful terrace of Café Cordina, the oldest of Valletta, a meeting place for politicians and illustrious commentators.
The parting of Malta is the head and tail of the siege. The traveler gets a first course Marsaxlokk, in the southeast of the island, a quiet fishing village on the weekend is one of the favorite destinations of the Maltese. The picture deserves a box Sorolla. The sea rocks painted eyes on the boats to monitor the sea, Phoenician heritage. Here, at one end of the bay, landed the first 4.000 Turkish 1565. Ahead had a trickier business than you thought. Twenty thousand Ottoman life would be left in the siege against nearly 10.000 Christian low.
Marsaxlokk is the beginning and the end is Vittoriosa. There is the Fort of San Angel who could not pay the invaders, Birgu which held the stubborn resistance of the Fort of San Miguel disappeared, in neighboring Senglea. The boardwalk, the bastion of San Angelo as eternal lookout and Valletta across the Grand Harbour, is tremendously evocative. The visitor can not leave without standing up to the Vittoriosa beautiful Church of San Lorenzo, where gentlemen celebrated the victories against the assailants hanging banners façade Turks caught in the fray.
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The traveler will not find any difficulty flying to Malta from Spain. Ryanair, eg, offer several flights weekly discounts.
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En La Valetta, against the pier where ferries leave for Sliema, There is a terrace which is worth its weight in gold, of the Cockney's restaurant. The pasta with clams and prawns is highly recommended. About 30 euros per person.
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Hotel Castille, in the square of the same name, en La Valetta. The leaves room for around 50 euros and its location is unbeatable for sunrise in the gardens of the Barracca.
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-A first-person testimony, the only surviving, invaluable: "Journal of the Great Siege of Malta, 1565”, Francisco Balbi de Correggio. Fernando Villaverde Editions.
–A walk through the old Arab Mdina, the silent city, where the weight of centuries is lurking around every corner, it is advisable to understand the anxiety that lived the besieged. Advocates of Malta, beset by a lack of effective, peasants dressed in costumes of war for the Turks to think I faced a force majeure.
-If it is a drink (shots that seem Malta), the traveler recognizes a weakness: the terrace of the "Paparazzi", in Spinola Bay. Good prices and a tribute to the conversation that avoids untimely haste.
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Comments (4)
Yago
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Nice pictures, although I think if there is any worth beach
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Yago
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Nice pictures, although I think if there is any worth beach..
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ricardo
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To our knowledge, the only really attractive cove next to the cave known as Calypso, but it is really small. What we mean is that many people travel thinking that is Ibiza and Malta, clear, takes a disappointment when the island has many other things to offer visitors as wonderful as a good beach.
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Xavier
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They have a nice beach in the north: the golden sandy beach and some near Popeye Village, but what he says is true my friend Ricardo, people go looking for sun and beach and is an island so it stands by its great history
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