Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s).

Upon arrival, collect your luggage from baggage claims and proceed to the Arrivals Hall, where you’ll be met by a tour guide and/or driver and transferred to your hotel. Later, your guide will tell you about St. Paul and Christianity in the Maltese Islands. You will attend Mass at a local church before dinner at your hotel.

After breakfast at your hotel, depart for a full-day guided excursion to the Three Cities of Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea, where in 1530 the Knights of St. John settled on the east coast in the creeks of Grand Harbor. Next, see the Miraculous Statue of Jesus Christ the Redeemer in the Oratory of the Basilica, dedicated to the birth of the Virgin Mary in Senglea. Later, take a typical harbor boat tour from Vittoriosa across the Grand Harbor to Valletta and see its waterfront. You will also see St. Johns Co-Cathedral and Museum in Valletta, and visit the oratory, which houses the famous Caravaggio paintings. Dinner and a restful overnight.

After breakfast at your hotel, depart for a full day’s guided excursion to Gozo, a sister island of Malta. Here you’ll visit the Mellieha Sanctuary of Our Lady, a Marian Shrine. The sanctuary was blessed by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Malta in 1990. The Sanctuary enjoys a picturesque view of the Valley of Our Lady, Mellieha Bay, Comino and Gozo. Later, see Munxar Parish Church, a Baroque style building dedicated to St. Paul, the Gozo Cathedral of the Assumption, and St. George’s Basilica, known as the golden church of the “marble Basilica” of Gozo. The relics of St. Clement rest in the Baroque alter in the side chapel of St. Lazarus, one of eleven side chapels within the Basilica. Next, visit the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’Pinu, Malta’s most important pilgrimage site. The narrow rooms on either side of the alter are full of testaments of the local belief in the intercession of Our Lady. Lastly, return by ferry to Malta, and enjoy dinner and an overnight at your hotel.

After breakfast at your hotel, another full day’s guided touring awaits. See St. Paul’s Bay by boat, the Church of the Assumption of our Lady, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Museum in Mdina, the medieval walled city, the Bastions, St. Paul’s Catacombs, and St. Paul’s Grotto. St. Paul’s Grotto is said to be the place where St. Paul took refuge and prayed for three months while trying to convert the Maltese to Christianity following his shipwreck around 60 AD. Pope John Paul prayed in the grotto during his visit in 1990. Return to Malta for dinner and your last overnight.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, transfer to the airport for your return flights home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.