Lying to the South East across the Grand Harbour, on 2 fingers of land, lie the Three Cities, Vittoriosa (Birgu), Senglea (Isla) and Cospicua (Bormla). The harbours have been in use since Phoenician times and Birgu was the first home of the Knights of St John. The palaces, churches and fortifications are far older than Valletta's.

By far the best way to visit the Three Cities is to catch a water taxi (a traditional luzzu) from the Valletta waterfront, although for the less confident mariners there is the option of a larger ferry, although this was not running the day we visited.


Vittoriosa and Senglea occupy the waterfronts of the 2 peninsulas, Cospicua does have a waterfront but links the bases of peninsulas of Vittoriosa and Senglea.

The oldest of the Three Cities was the original home of the Knights of St John, defended by the heavily restored Fort St Angelo, This rather beautiful city of ancient buildings with a stunning view of the Grand Harbour, is today home to a classy marina, a plethora of restaurants and bars and a warren of narrow winding streets.

Fort St Angelo, originally built by the Knights of St John was adapted and used by the occupying British forces during WWII.

Right on the waterfront is a small public garden, in front of the looming bulk of St Lawrence's Church, which is home to the Freedom Monument, commemorating a turning point in Malta's modern history. It marks the closure of the British military presence in Malta in 1979. Malta was already an independent nation by this point (1964) and became a Republic, within the Commonwealth, in 1974.

The smallest of the Three Cities is also defended on the seaward tip by a fortification built by the Knights of St John, Fort St Michael. This fort boasts a lookout post which was constantly manned at the time to maintain a watch over the Grand Harbour. The lookout post survives today and the carving in the stone bears a stylised eye and ear to symbolise it's function of watching and listening.


Senglea is a much more commercial city, still containing many ancient buildings, often turned over to apartment blocks and holiday lets. On the Western side of the Senglea peninsula is an active maritime port for handling cargo, extensive marine repair yards and one of the largest dry docks in Europe.

By far the largest of the Three Cities and extending some way inland from the waterfront. Cospicua supports the usual "modern aspects" of a city with retail, housing, churches, cultural elements, museums, sports facilities etc, schools and the American University of Malta. There is a plan to redevelop some of the downsized and unwanted dockland spaces into a commercial and tourist centre.

To the East of The Three Cities, but almost appearing contiguous, lies the town of Kalkara, Today it is an unremarkable commercial and residential area. It was largely rebuilt having suffered greatly from the bombing during WWII.

On the waterfront of Kalkara creek is the highly visible Esplora Interactive Science Centre with its distinctive planetarium dome.

At the very tip of the the Grand Harbour lies the bastioned Fort Ricasoli, constructed by the Knights of St John it has had a chequered history aside from its initial defensive role. Having fallen into disrepair after the war it was handed to the Maltese government who used (abused) it for a variety of industrial purposes and today much of it is leased to the Malta Film Commission and is used as a film studio.

In recent years, huge sets were constructed on the site (some are still visible) for the filming of many well known productions including Gladiator and Death on the Nile. Malta was clearly a favourite location with HBO in their filming of George R R Martin's Game of Thrones as the fort served as "The Red Keep".