Gardjola Gardens, Senglea's look-out with Valletta in its sights

To my mind, few images of Malta are as recognisable as this stone look-out perched above the water, an eye and an ear carved over its windows. It sits at the tip of Senglea, facing Valletta head-on. I rate it as the best viewpoint on the whole Grand Harbour, and the one that least deserves to be rushed. I compare it with the rest in best viewpoints in Malta.

What exactly is the Gardjola?

The Malta Tourism Authority describes it as a stone vedette on the bastion at the point of Senglea, which served as a look-out post guarding the harbour entrance. What sets it apart from any other sentry box is its symbols. Above the windows are a carved eye and ear, which the MTA reads as symbols of vigilance. Seeing and hearing, which was the whole job.

The garden around it goes by two names. Malta Public Transport calls it the Gardjola Gardens and describes it as a peaceful garden with Grand Harbour views and a good spot to relax among the greenery. The MTA, on its Senglea page, refers to the Safe Haven Gardens at Senglea Point. It’s the same place, so don’t be thrown if a sign or map uses one rather than the other.

The tip of a town that never fell

The look-out makes more sense once you know where you’re standing. Grand Master Claude de la Sengle fortified Senglea in 1551, and in the Great Siege of 1565 it held out, shielded inland by Fort St Michael and from across the water by the guns of St Angelo on Birgu’s point. That’s why La Valette named it Città Invicta, the unconquered city. From the Gardjola you take in much of that stage, the harbour mouth that had to be watched, the far shore where Valletta later rose and, across the creek, the fort at Birgu.

For the background to those weeks, start with the Great Siege of Malta. And for the town around the garden, see Senglea (L-Isla).

The best view of Valletta is outside Valletta

Nearly everyone looks at the harbour from Valletta, from the Upper Barrakka Gardens, with the Three Cities opposite. I like that view a lot. But the reverse one, from the Gardjola, strikes me as the more complete of the two, because here the Knights’ city is what’s in front of you, whole and face-on, rather than a backdrop. The MTA calls the views across to Valletta superb, and I won’t argue.

My tip is to do both on the same day. In the morning from the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, and late in the afternoon from here. Nothing makes it clearer that the Grand Harbour was defended with one shore keeping an eye on the other, and the Gardjola’s carved eye makes the point better than any information board.

The photo I’d go for

The Gardjola is one of those places everyone photographs the same way, watchtower in front and water behind. Nothing wrong with that, but I’d take two more. One up close, just the carved eye and ear, since that’s the detail that tells the story and it gets lost in the wide shot. And one with your back to the watchtower, Valletta filling the frame, which is the picture you can’t take from the capital itself.

A word that goes for any viewpoint in the Three Cities. This is a neighbourhood with people living in it, not a set, so the garden is their spot to sit and take the air too. I’d go with that in mind and not hog the benches for a long photo session.

Getting there, and what I can’t tell you

By bus, take the 3 or the 4 from Valletta terminus to Senglea. The alternative is the Valletta to Cospicua ferry and a walk to the point of Senglea. The ferry details are on the Valletta ferries page.

Two things I can’t confirm. Neither the MTA nor Malta Public Transport publishes an entry fee or opening hours for the garden, so I won’t give you any. Nor is there an official source saying which local council the garden falls under; the MTA places it at the point of Senglea, and I’ll leave it there. With that, I’d set aside an unhurried half-hour as the finale of the Three Cities of Malta.