After a light lunch at Piadina Caffe, the Missus decided that She wanted to walk around and do some 
window shopping. I decided to walk over to the Grandmaster's Palace and check out the The Palace Armoury. As I noted in my earlier post, I had a mild fascination with the Knights of Malta, which started when we visited Rhodes.
Of course, what red-blooded male doesn't want to check out a collection of armor, swords, cannons, and other weapons? It brings out the little boy in me.
What makes this even more interesting is that the entire collection is housed in their original buildings.
Even though the size of the collection is a small fraction of the size it once was….due in part to pilferage by Napoleonic forces during the French Occupation of Malta, it is still quite impressive.
And of course, one could not visit the Armoury without reading about the "Great Siege". In 1565, the Ottomans laid siege to the island. If you recall, back in 1522, the Knights had been defeated and left the Island of Rhodes.
This time though, things would be different. Outnumbered an estimated 8 to 1, the Knights and the people of Malta hung on. Eventually, with morale low within the ranks of the Ottomans, a relief force of Spanish landed, handing the Ottomans a defeat.
It was a great moment in the history of Malta. The Grand Master, Jean de Valette, was Malta's key influential figure during the Great Siege. Indeed, the city of Valletta was built and named in his honor.
We headed back to our dwelling, making a stop at the corner store for some water, diet coke, and something the Missus came to really enjoy; a soft drink produced in Malta called Diet Kinnie. She told me it reminded Her a bit of the beloved Laoshan Cola.
We got back to the apartment and took a short nap.
Awaking refreshed, we showered, headed to the dining "nook" peering out the window to Upper Barrakka Gardens.
We had a bunch of plans for the evening, we decided to leave a bit early and head back to Upper Barrakka Gardens….which was quite busy.
Folks watching the Cruise Ships leave the Grand Harbor.
There goes a huge ship of folks who (hopefully) spent well in Malta.
Remember the rehearsal we saw in St John's Co-Cathedral? Well, we dressed as nicely as we were able and went to the free concert.
It was a really special moment for us….the interior of the cathedral a gleaming golden jewel. The concert was one that had only been performed once before, ages ago, written by a composer from Malta.
The owner of our apartment told us his favorite restaurant is Il Horza….so we dropped by the evening before and made reservations for dinner. It would be one of our favorite meals of this trip.
The location and interior is quite unassuming….the menu is quite interesting as you'll see from the dishes we ordered.
But first there was this bread…..
Yes. This bread. Possibly some of the best I've ever had. Yeasty, crusty, not too dense, just plain wonderful. As with many things in Malta, we'd have another encounter with this bread again.
Our least favorite dish of the night was the Fish Stew with Black Rice and Shellfish.
We could never get into the really fishy flavor they like here in Malta. I mean, I like consommé de 7 mares and all that, but this was too much for us.
The Hay Smoked Barbary Duck Breast with Asian Pork Springroll and Greens was an interesting mash-up of familiar flavors and textures.
The duck was tender and delicious, the springroll crisp, the flavors balanced. Nothing was overplayed and this was a nice fusion of flavors.
The Stuffed Quail with Truffle Mousse Wrapped with Pancetta was delicious as was the very porky, Pork Tongue Croquette. For some reason, we didn't enjoy the shaved fresh summer black truffles, but of course the Missus loved the quail egg.
The Crispy Local Pork Belly was lovely. Crisp initially, then melting away……
The house made smoked pork sausage was also lovely, very tasty, straight up flavors. Quite nice.
The Missus loved the "dessert"; unpastuerized local cheese, milky, yet refreshing.
The service was good, the ambiance very nice and romantic….a very good meal.
Il-Horza
6, St. Christopher Street
Valletta, Malta
We took a walk back to the apartment. As I mentioned before, the streets of Valletta are usually pretty quiet at night….not on this night as there was a concert happening outside a nearby restaurant.
It was kind of neat….anyone could come by and hang out on the steps….maybe buy a glass of wine at the restaurant and chill…….
Malta was full of surprises……
Thanks for reading!