in the catacombs

There was rain this morning, waves of heavy rain with sunshine in between.
We took the water taxi to Valletta then walked a while to find the bus stop from where we went to the little town of Rabat. There is a big church there apparently founded by St. Paul himself, who was shipwrecked here whilst on his way to Rome to be tried as a rebel in AD60. He took refuge in a cave which is still there under the church. 
Further down are the third century Roman catacombs, tiny passages and chambers carved out of the rock which would have been quite creepy without the electric lights. Disappointingly there are no bones there any more as they were all looted long ago apparently. 
Further down again are the WW2 shelters, more than three hundred tiny rooms, some with ornate tiled floors. 
It was very warm down there and we were glad to emerge back in to the sunshine and have lunch in a traditional Maltese restaurant there in the plaza outside the church.