Paola Things to Do Tips by steventilly

The Prison

The old state prison now serves as Paola police station, but adjoining that is the current, more modern prison. The old prison building shown here actually bears the legend "Women's Prison" in the stonework above the door.
This was also the site of public executions and the last one was held there in 1945.

Directions: Just around the corner from the town square (Hibernians FC)

The Mosque

Malta's only serving mosque is in Paola, staning on Corradino Hill. There is a newly commissioned Muslim cemetary right next to it too, there having been no proper Muslim cemetary in Malta for many years until then.
Though the minaratte of the mosque was clearly visible from the town square it was the heat of mid-afternoon by now and we couldn't find the energy to walk to the mosque to see it up close. You can see from this picture (taken from the square) that the minarette is very colourful though.

Directions: "Down hill" from the town square (towards the prison), but keep going straight ahead, and not to the left down the road that has the prison on it.

Paola Town Square

The town square is surrounded by most of Paola's important buildings - the church, the band club and Hibernians FC (and the police station/prison is just around the corner) and in the centre of the square is a delightful elongated oval of a park. It's totally surrounded by trees to give shade and in the centre (but offset more towards the church end of the oval) is a kisok serving hot & cold food, drinks and beer.
The whole thing has an Art Deco look to it and it must be a quite vibrant meeting place in the early-to-late evening, hopefully having an atmosphere to match the square at Balutta. Unfortunately we weren't there then, we called in for lunch one afternoon. At that time the square was quite quiet, just a few peole around having lunch or falling asleep on a shady bench. That looked like a great idea, actually.
Lunch is decsribed in the Restaurants section.

Directions: Right in front of the church. Almost every bus through Paola stops at the town square.

Christ The King Church

This church is quite modern, being founded in 1923 when the present parish church became too small for the congregation. Probably it was with future growth in mind that they built this as the biggest church in Malta. It's vast - and its silver coloured domes make it stand out against the skyline for many miles around. This silver colouring is also pretty unique (I'm sure I didn't see another church with it) and so you always know when you see the church at Paola.
From close up you just can't get a shot that capures its sheer size - the main title picture for this page was taken from neighbouring Selglea. The church doesn't have a single huge dome as some do (eg Mosta, Xewkija) nor is it particularly attractive from a purely architecturaly viewpoint (unlike Gharb) but it is immensely impressive just for its scale.

Directions: The church stands just off the town square, and every bus through Paola will stop almost at its door.