A map of Malta shows you how easy it is to drive around. Roads across the island lead you to the most amazing sight.
Map from Wikipedia article on Malta.
In the middle is the wonderful domed Roman Catholic church of Mosta. The exterior out-does all the other churches and cathedrals I have visited. I imagine that the architect who designed must have been a part-time pastry chef used to decorating wedding cakes with little wavy lines and rows of patterns.
This picture is from Wikipedia. I hope to find an even better picture for you later. You can just about see the stone 'frills', which must be honoured with a technical term. The tops of the pillars are a riot of little curvy leaves. We drove in from a curving side street and suddenly saw a slice of yellow stone wedding cake at the end of the 'trik' (track or narrow lane).
This picture from Wikipedia (by Vask retouched by Arch2all) shows the yellow colour of the local limestone.
The lower walls behind the pillars are filled with niches containing statues. The statues often have golden halos or gold patterns on the Madonna's robes which are traditional blue and white.
Inside the dome and walls are all blue and gold. This is Europe's third largest unsupported Christian dome after St Paul's in London and St Peter's in Rome.
In World War II a German pilot dropped a bomb on the dome. It burst through the roof during the Sunday evening service (mass) and rolled along the central aisle. Whilst in London you and I might have ducked behind a pew and prayed, this place has only fold-up chairs. So, seeing the bomb rolling towards the doors, to avert a collision, a quick-thinking person sprang up and opened the door(s). Three hundred people prayed. The bomb rolled out and down the steps without either damaging the building further nor hurting a single soul.
Photo by T Sharot. Copyright.
After the war, I was told, the pilot of the plane came back to apologise.
Wikipedia has a whole article on it, the date in 1942 when the bomb fell, that 300 people were present, the fact that the original bomb was dumped at sea, so the one displayed is a replica. Wikipedia also had the name of the architect and the fact that the rotunda is 'unsupported' (by internal pillars) but rests on a massive, strong, thick circular wall, thirty feet wide (9.1 metres).
The air is heavy with incense.
You may wish to stop in town for tea. It's a bright little town with lots of smart shops. You can sit enjoying a view or the cathedral on the first floor (this is level two if you are American - Brits have ground floor and first floor) in a nearby cafe on the corner.
We found an even bigger and better selection of cakes in a small specialist cake shop, called The Cake Box, on the street level left hand corner as you face the front of the church, a few steps across the road diagonally facing the cathedral.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotunda_of_Mosta
The Cake Box, Mosta, tel:+365 2010 9255; email:thecakeboxmosta@cateressence.com
They don't have toilets but there's a sign to public toilets nearby.
