Mellieha & Mosta, Malta

Mellieha is a relatively young city by Maltese standards. Located at the northern end of the island of Malta, the area was sparsely populated for hundreds of years due to its vulnerability to pirate attacks. Under the British, settlement was encouraged in the mid 19th century and town Mellieha is home to around 8,000 people.

While in Mellieha, I couch surfed with a wonderful couple who kindly showed me around. Our first stop was the WWII shelter. Unlike the south, northern Malta was rarely bombed by the Germans and nearby Italians. Over 1,000 refugees from badly damaged parts of the island fled to Mellieha, bringing the population to 5,000. Digging the tunnels began months before the war broke out as everyone knew it was imminent. The complex includes about 500 meters of tunnels with corridors measuring 2 meters wide and 2.1 meters tall.

During air raids, the siren wailed and residents scrambled to find the nearest entrance to the shelter. Each person was initially allotted 2 square feet inside the shelter, though wealthy families could pay to dig a private cubicle 6 feet wide.

There were little signs with some information throughout the tunnel on my visit, but I still had many unanswered questions which my host and I posed to the ticket taker afterwards. It turned out he had been a young boy during the war and we spent a long time listening as he told us several vivid memories about the noisy, crowded conditions in the shelter. They would press their ears against the limestone walls and could tell from the vibrations and sounds if the plane passing overhead was Italian or German. Since Mellieha was of little strategic importance, it escaped much of the bombing but the population suffered from hunger as there was minimal food available.

Just up the road from the shelter is the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Mellieha. This site had always been an important pilgrimage destination, even when Mellieha was virtually unpopulated. The entrance gates were built long before the city.

The present church was built at the end of the 19th century, though a church has stood here since the 16th century. Inside is a painting said to be by St. Luke, who ended up in Malta with St. Paul after a shipwreck, though evidence suggests it is actually from the 12th or 13th century.

Across the street and down 2 long flights of steps is the Grotto of Our Lady.

Since the area around Mellieha was a popular spot for pirates and other unsavory characters, the Red Tower, also known as St. Agatha's Tower, was built in 1647-1648 to protect merchants traveling between Malta and Gozo.

The tower usually has a commanding view of Malta, Comino, and Gozo, but during my visit, there was a huge sandstorm blowing up from the Sahara, so it was unusually hazy and incredibly windy.

Inside, a wooden floor has been laid to protect the original, uneven stone floor which is still visible through glass panes in parts of the floor. There was formerly an additional floor where about 50 soldiers would sleep, but today that floor has been removed. The flags hanging are from the various Grand Masters of Malta who ruled during important times in the tower's history.

Head down from the Red Tower's hilltop location and you'll eventually find yourself on Malta's biggest beach.

Just 12 kilometers south of Mellieha is Mosta where the Rotunda of Mosta stands. The church was built in the 19th century and was based on the Pantheon in Rome with an unsupported dome among the largest in the world.

Taking a closer look at the dome reveals a clear break in the design.

The reason for this is not due to oversight. Instead, a German bomb crashed through the roof here on the afternoon of April 9, 1942 as a full congregation awaited mass. The bomb turned out to be a dud and did not explode. Word of the Mosta bomb miracle spread quickly. Today, a replica of the bomb is in the church.