Kalkara & Birgu

Fort Rinella

Today we went to Fort Rinella in Kalkara. When we entered the fort we saw 'soldiers' dressed in nineteenth century attire cleaning weapons. First we went to the cellars where there was a video presentation about the purpose of this nineteenth century fort. It contained a 100 tonnes muzzle loading canon, the largest of its kind in the world. It could shoot one tonne shells eight miles away, to defend the entrance of the harbour. It was innovative at that time, because it was the first muzzle loading canon that could be automatically reloaded. This way it could fire a shell every six minutes. For an attack over land the fort had a small platoon of soldiers that defended the fort with rifles.

At the end of the tour the pupils were quizzed about what they learned today. The winners were allowed to dress up like nineteenth century soldiers and fire one time with a old nineteenth century rifle, as you can see below.

Malta at War Museum

After our visit to Fort Rinella, we went to Birgu to visit the Malta at War Museum. The museum showed some artefacts of the siege of Malta in WWII. Because of the many air raids, the Maltese population carved bomb shelters in the limestone under the city. The one we visited could house up to 700 inhabitants. It was all very narrow and cramped. There were bunks, but not enough for all 700, so there was a system circulation system so that everybody could at least get some sleep. The rich could buy a part of a shelter for their own, so they had a bit more privacy. When it was raining the water could get knee deep in the tunnels, until they installed a system to get rid of the water. There was even a nursery for mothers to deliver a baby. But because of the bad hygienic conditions, only three out of every ten newborns survived the first two weeks. It was very claustrophobic, something experienced by some of our kids (Dutch and Maltese), who decided to go out. And we were only a group of 30. Imagine how it must have been for the 700 hiding here during the war in fear for the air strike...

A short walk along the quays of Birgu harbour concluded the day trip. Back at school the girls attended one lesson, to experience hands-on how it is to be in a Maltese class, before they were picked up by the parents to go home. The boys were brought back to the boys-school, where the parents were picking them up. Tonight all the students involved in this exchange will have a 'farewell party' in a McDonald's restaurant.

This concludes our exchange. Tomorrow , we expect the children of v2s at the airport around 5 o'clock in the morning. Our flight departs around 7 o'clock. We expect to arrive at Eindhoven airport around 10.30, and if everything goes well we will be in the arrivals hall around 10.45. See you then!