The 10 Best Things to Do in Island of Malta, Malta

Fort Rinella in Kalkara,was built in 1878. This fort is not only a unique remnant of Malta's recent British colonial past, but it is also the world's first mechanical fort which enabled its small garrison to fire a monstrous 100-ton gun every six minutes. To be able to do this, the fort was equipped with a novel steam-driven hydraulic set-up that enabled the gun to traverse and depress and its ammunition to be hoisted and loaded mechanically. On visiting this fort in 1889, the great French writer Jules Verne described it as a marvel of the industrial age which would render Malta safe for ever. Some say that this is the place from where he got the idea of writing his famous novel a 'Voyage to the Moon', where a man is stuffed into a large projectile and fired from a large gun onto the moon!Originally, the 100-ton gun was built by Sir William George Armstrong of Newcastle in 1878, to equip a new class of Italian battleships - the Duilio class. This caused a serious stir between Britain and Italy which led to the former to obtain examples of the same gun to secure Malta and Gibraltar against a potential Italian seaborne attack.The Armstrong 100-ton gun has a calibre of 17.72-Inches (45cm). It is 35 feet long and has an overall weight of 156 tons making it the world's largest muzzle-loading cannon ever built. It used a quarter of a ton of gun powder to propel its monster shells up to a maximum range of eight miles. At that range it could pierce anything up to 21-inches of ship armour! The gun at Fort Rinella and another at Napier of Magdala Battery in Gibraltar are the sole surving examples today. The fort has recently undergone extensive restoration and improvement. A new 20-minute audio-visual outlining the history of the fort and its gun has also been added and is included in all guided tours.RE-Live History at Fort Rinella - Every afternoon from Monday to Saturday!Throughout the year, from Monday to Saturday at 14.00Hrs sharp, Fort Rinella is brought back to life complete with late 19th century Victorian soldiers who will take visitors on an animated tour around the fort. This tour combines excellent guiding with live and colourful historical re-enacting including military signalling, firing of rifles, bayonet practice, military cooking and more. Much use of original period equipment and weapons is made throughout this tour. All this goes to provide an enjoyable and long lasting experience to visitors.

Malta Falconry Centre is a Quality Assured attraction certified by the Malta Tourism Authority. Explore the Malta falconry centre and live this unique experience, watch our falconers fly several different species of well trained birds of prey and see these magnificent birds in free flight. The facility holds its own free parking,open spaces around the centre all fully-accessible for everyone visit us. Complimeting the centre one find a souvenir shop situated at the main entrance, offering wonderful gifts to memorize the experience at the unique falconry in Malta Opening times The Centre is open all year round from Tuesdays till Sundays. Winter times : from 9.00 till 15.00 (1st October and 30th June) Summer times : from 9.00 till 12.30 (1st July to 30th September). The Centre is closed on Mondays and (24 and 25 June 2017) Display times We have two displays per day in Winter at 11:00 and 14:00 We have one display per day in Summer at 11:00 (Weather Permitting - windy days) bird handling is held instead Falconry Experience! At the Malta Falconry Centre, we offer a unique experience – the thrill of the Falconry art. This falconry experience is given in a course style. Carrying out such experience/ course one gets to know better the techniques of the falconry art and get a beginners knowledge as a falconer. This experience is offered in two ways; a half day experience or full day experience, are offered. The half day introduces the participant to the basics of falconry and gets to know how falconry birds are trained from 9.30 till 12.30 The full day experience enables the participant to get to know more as regarding the falconry techniques and would also have enough time to fly a bird of prey after learning how to train these birds. A participation certificate is given at completion of such course from 9.30 till 14.30. (Summer Time 8:30 till 13:30) All around the year This experience is offered to all ages. Children are to be accompanied by one adult (both adult and child/ren are to pay for the experience). Pre-booking by email is needed giving the name/s of the participant/s and the date on which the experience is to be carried out. No experience could be held without pre-booking. All participants are to be on time as to have the experience carried out on schedule.

The Lascaris War Rooms consist of an underground complex of tunnels and chambers that housed the War Headquarters from where the defence of Malta was conducted during the Second World War.This secret complex contained operations rooms for each of the fighting services from where not only the air defence of Malta was coordinated, but also some of the greatest battles fought in the Mediterrean during the war. In July 1943, the Lascaris War Rooms served as the advance headquarters for the Invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky)by Generals Eisenhower, Montgomery, Alexander and Clark and Air Marshal Tedder and Admiral Cunningham. It went on being used under different forms by both the British services and Nato up to 1977.

Built between 1573 and 1577, this Cathedral contains two masterpieces by Caravaggio.

This state of the art building is spread over four floors and is not your typical Postal Museum. It offers a run through of Maltese history from the 15th century. The Museum also boasts of two temporary gallery spaces, a large audio-visual room and merchandising store. The temporary gallery spaces currently offer a collection of photographic prints by Richard Ellis, and what is arguably the finest collection of works by Emvin Cremona, regarded by many as one of the best Maltese artists of the 20th century.

The Malta at War Museum is located at the original historic entrance of Vittoriosa (Birgu), the older from the Three Cities. It stands to document for posterity the great ordeal which the brave people of Malta and their defenders endured during the dark days of the Blitz (1940-43). Vittoriosa (Birgu) is the former home to the Royal Navy in the Malta and one of the most bombed places in WW2. This museum combines an attractive exhibition about the Second World War in Malta along with the viewing of an original wartime documentary – ‘Malta G.C.’ and a visit into an underground air raid shelter in which hundreds took refuge during the raids.This attraction has recently undergone a complete remake co-funded by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund (72.25%), the Government of Malta (12.75%) and Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna. The result is a new attractive museum spread on nine galleries. Each of these is dedicated to a given aspect of wartime Malta. The museum display is organised in a chronological manner and includes some 10,000 original artefacts connected with the subject. These vary from clothing, weapons, instruments, equipment, printed matter and other large exhibits.The new Malta at War Museum is open daily for visiting between 10.00 and 17.00hrs.