SENGLEA

Entrance to the fortified city of Senglea. The 2 arched gateways on the right of the picture have been constructed to allow traffic to go in and out of the city (other entrances are from the harbour area). The original gateway is a few metres further to the right. Senglea lies on an isthmus of land jutting out from the Cottonera side of Grand Harbour facing Valletta. The original name by which Maltese still know this city is Isla (a corruption of the Italian word Isola meaning island). The name Senglea was given to the city by Grandmaster Claude de La Sengle who built the place into a medieval city during his reign between (1494 and 1557). Senglea played an important part during the Great Siege of 1565 and was honoured with the title of Civitas Invicta ( the Unconquered city) by Grand Master La Valette who led the defence of the Island against the Turks and who had succeeded La Sengle. Being in the port area and close to the naval dockyards, Senglea was heavily bombed during World War II. In fact the clock tower seen in this shot has only been reconstructed lately. Would have liked to take more pictures of Senglea but had to rush home to be in time for the day’s football match.
Today is the big day for football in Malta. As I said earlier most of the Maltese support England or Italy and there is much rivalry between the supporters of the two countries. Today’s quarterfinal clash in the European Nations Cup is between these two soccer giants and there is a lot of expectation for the match to begin.
Thank you so very much for looking and for your lovely comments on yesterday’s picture.

[Sue Wilde]

Another fabulous history lesson Dione

[CHARLES MALLIA]

nice shot

[Rick Schies]

Your area is filled with history. This stone enforced City is a wonderful example of time and beauty

[Anne ❀]

great info and shot to go with it.

[Mrs. Smith]

I'm enjoying your historical pictures. Enjoy your soccer match!

[Harry J Benson]

good photo and information, thank you for sharing your history with us

[Kerri]

Cool and interesting structure

[Ramesh Chand]

wow....nice to visit this place....good one Dione Giorgio!!!!!!!!!

[Livia]

Wonderful information, and a great shot! Enjoy your football matches! 8)

[John Brown]

Nice shot and reminder of my holiday there.

[Colleen]

Super information about a fantastic place!

[Mags]

Wow! Wonderful shot so rich in history, Dione! Great work!

[Traci Wood Reynolds]

Amazing walls... Such a great shot and love the narrative!

[John]

Wonderful pov, great shot

[Carole]

Love the pov

[Paula]

Very interesting!

[Pyrrhula]

A beautiful view on the fortress and Interesting information .

[Catherine W.]

Cool find! Love the clock tower in the distance!!!! Hope you enjoyed the game!!!!

[Vicki Dixon]

wow, you can sure see how it has lasted all these years! great shot...nice to see other parts of the city too

[Dione Giorgio]

@swilde @chamal @digitalrn @sunnygreenwood @mrssmith @hjbenson @kerristephens @pawar_ramesh @myautofocuslife @hobgoblinwychwo @httpgeffed @marlboromaam @traciwood @johnnyfrs @melorac @paulavdmerwe @pyrrhula @wannabe @vickisfotos Thank you very much for your lovely comments.

[Peter de Graaff]

A wonderful old structure. Holland is out of socccer

[Ann H. LeFevre]

Interesting history! I know you folks in Europe always get a chuckle about the folks across the pond as our history is a blink compared to the "age" of your structures and sites. This place proves it as it reaches back to the 1500's! Nice shot Dione!

[Dione Giorgio]

@peterdegraaff @olivetreeann Thank you for your comments. Peter, I think, the Dutch players were too tired after a stressful season, they could have performed much better.