Valletta

Valletta is a 16th-century walled city built by the Knights of St. John on a peninsula jutting into the Grand Harbour. Limestone glows golden in the Mediterranean sun. Every street is on a grid, every other building is a baroque masterpiece, and the whole city has been UNESCO-listed since 1980.

The highlights are concentrated: St. John’s Co-Cathedral (with two original Caravaggio paintings), the Grand Master’s Palace, the Upper Barrakka Gardens overlooking the harbor and the Three Cities, and the National Museum of Archaeology with artifacts from Malta’s prehistoric temples — older than the pyramids.

EWT Tours visits Valletta as a port stop. A full day is enough to walk the city, visit the cathedral, see the noon-day cannon firing from the gardens, and have a seafood lunch with harbor views.