To the east of Mellieħa Ridge, the ornate fortress-like Selmun Palace, which now houses a hotel and restaurant, dominates the skyline above St Paul's Bay. It was built in the 18th century for a charitable order called the Monte di Redenzione degli Schiavi (Mountain of the Redemption of the Slaves), whose business was to ransom Christians who had been taken into slavery on the Barbary Coast.
