The above picture is of the ferry (the rear of which can be seen at the right of the picture) about to leave Valletta for the trip to Sliema. Sliema is the modern town over the other side of Marsamxett (pronounced Marsamshett, Dunnett: Marsamuscetto) harbour. A map is shown below.

Before Ft St Angelo was built, the Knights had no way of preventing an enemy from anchoring in Marsaxett harbour, and this is the anchorage used by Dragut in 1551. By the great siege of 1565, Fort St Angelo had been built, so the Turks had to land on the other side of the island (at Marsasirocco) and cross the island on foot. Once the Turks had take St Angelo, they could then use Marsamxett.

To the rear of the picture, one of the main bastions of Valletta can be seen rising up to the top of the photo, giving an idea of the height of Mt Scibberas above the water. Our car was parked on the top of that bastion, about 200 metres from our hotel. Rather than climb all the way back up, we got the bus back from Sliema to Floriana bus station which is on a level with the top of the bastion.

On the following map, the photo was taken from the position of the tail of the arrow, looking towards the head.