A taste of Malta

Sunny winter days on the edge of Europe

The year was 2017 and we had travelled to Europe for the holidays and had spent a lovely Christmas with the kids. They, however, all had different plans for New Year’s Eve and so my wife and I decided to break away for a few days, to somewhere different. Even after a relatively short time in Europe during December, we were already keen for a place with more sunshine, but not too far away. Off to Malta, which looked like it would fit the bill.

On the southern fringe of Europe, a promising location for sunshine during December. Source: Google Maps.

A search on Google revealed that “Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean between Sicily and the North African coast. It’s a nation known for historic sites related to a succession of rulers including the Romans, Moors, Knights of Saint John, French and British. It has numerous fortresses, megalithic temples…”, etc. Clearly a place worth visiting!

Naturally, we visited some of these historic sites, but I should also mention something even older: the islands of Malta and neighbouring Gozo and Comino themselves. The various layers of rock were deposited as seabed sediments over a period between 28 and 5 million years ago. The different conditions at the time resulted in sediments that include limestone, a blue-gray mudstone and a greenish sandstone. Faulting, tilting and uplifting of these layers have eventually brought them to the surface. The limestone has been used in most of the buildings on the island, going back to prehistoric times. But let me not bore you here with an overdose of geological science: If you are really interested in the geological history of the islands, Wikipedia has a very nice summary here.

I can’t remember what was so funny, maybe I fell over on the way back to this perch after setting the camera’s self-timer? Picture credit: Author and his self-timer.

People first inhabited Malta around 8,000 years ago, coming from Europe and Africa. Living in caves and open dwellings, they hunted but also farmed, depleting the soils within a few centuries. A second wave of immigrants arrived from Sicily around 3,850 BC and were somehow inspired to build a number of impressive temples. We visited one of these, Hagar Qim, located on the southwestern coast of Malta. It’s one of the oldest religious structures on our planet and it is quite frankly astonishing that it still exists today.

Part of the (partially reconstructed) temple, under the tent that was erected to protect it from the elements. Having survived outside for more than 5,300 years, it now huddles under a tent. Picture credit: Author.

More than 5,300 years ago, the builders designed and built this impressive solar calendar. These days we don’t know what the time is if we don’t have our smartphones switched on… Picture credit: Author.

Nevertheless, knowing when the sun was where did not prevent their civilization from collapsing and the islands were subsequently inhabited by Phoenicians, Romans and North African Arabs over the centuries, eventually forming part of the Kingdom of Sicily. In 1530, they were given to the Order of St. John (also known as the Order of Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, or the Knights Hospitaller). More about their fascinating history behind that link, but it is worthwhile visiting one of the earliest “hospitals” that they established on Malta: the Sacra Infermeria. (I am a geologist and so I like looking at rocks everywhere, but my wife is a nursing professional and midwife, so it seemed right to learn a thing or two about nursing history.)

This model in the **Sacra Infermeria** in Valetta illustrates what life (and death…) might have looked like in what was then considered one of the best hospitals in Europe. Picture credit: Author.

Valletta, the capital, is an interesting city. Lots of new buildings, old fortifications and narrow alleys and steps between them. I will let a few photographs do most of the talking, but by all means visit this useful tourist website if you’d like to know more about the city’s attractions.

Too pretty to not take a picture! Picture credit: Author.

Parking (and driving) here clearly requires great skill, planning and patience.

Now, having seen all those old and glorious and picturesque buildings, I must say that our own accommodations were less impressive. We’d booked an AirBnB apartment in the suburb of St. Julian’s, near Spinola Bay. Very interesting surroundings, but the apartment was … umm … not fantastic, to say the least. There were very large windows looking out onto building work and renovations that were taking place literally just a few metres away. The bathroom had no outside window and the shower did not drain properly. And the place was COLD! We had a little electric heater going almost all the time. It didn’t help that we both suffered from a bit of a cold that week.

A Room with a View … sort of. My wife was studying the somewhat interesting activities of the tradesmen installing kitchens, a few metres away. Picture credit: Author.

Many opportunities to experience “the good life” in restaurants near our apartment. Picture credit: Author.

On this trip, we didn’t rent a car, preferring to use public transport (and our feet) for travelling. This was much better than trying to negotiate the traffic ourselves with a vehicle. The only problem was that at peak times there were just not enough buses. We sometimes had to see 2 or 3 full buses drive past the bus stop until there was one that would stop, offload some people, and replace them with us. (I’m sure you also know that feeling when you are not sure whether you should risk a quick walk to the next bus stop, hoping it might be less crowded there?) Even so, we managed to see quite a bit of Malta, including the sites mentioned above and also some lovely little harbour towns, like Marsaxlokk, in the South-east.

Colourful **Marsaxlokk** harbour, Malta’s picture postcard fishing village.

My wife can never resist petting cats, even bronze ones bolted to the pavement in Marsaxlokk. Picture credit: Author.

Getting around with a hop-on-hop-off bus. Good view from the top, no comment necessary about the weather :). Picture credit: Author, squinting at his cellphone to see if this selfie is going to work.

Malta (the country) also includes the islands of Comino and Gozo. The latter has a fortress and can be reached with a ferry. So, like the explorers that we consider ourselves, we just had to go there. The bus ride from Spinola Bay to the ferry terminal at Marfa Bay was uneventful, but the ferry trip was windy and rough and bumpy enough for us to stay inside. This good decision was reinforced when we saw one gentleman on the foredeck outside being completely drenched by a wave that came over the bow.

The Citadella in Gozo is an impressive building providing a grand view over the island from the ramparts. We braved the cold winds up there to take in some of the views, and then retreated down into the building itself. Also called the Gran Castello, it contains an interesting museum, with exhibits on various trades and skills from years ago, but also of household and musical instruments.

A poster describing a “friction drum”, where sound was produced by rubbing the goatskin on the reed, producing what one author called “**a hoarse moaning sound which is peculiarly grateful to the uncultivated ears of the country people**.” Political correctness was obviously still far in the future! This exhibit indicates that there should have been similar instruments in South Africa and Zambia, but I have never encountered the “uncultivated country people” who are supposed to have used them. Picture credit: Author.

After this dose of historical and cultural information, we took a walk through Victoria (the central town) and almost overdosed on a delicious local lunch. Suitably reinforced with pastizzi (and hot chocolate, I seem to remember), we started the return journey — the bus ride back to the ferry terminal and then another bumpy voyage back to Malta itself.

New Year’s Eve in Valletta was a bit underwhelming. We first wandered along the streets of the city along with thousands of other people, and as day turned into night, we could appreciate the various Christmas lights that were still in evidence.

Crowds on the streets of Valletta, with a Christmas tree made out of glass balls. Picture credit: Author.

Later in the evening, the bus terminal started to fill up again and we had the brainwave to take a short ferry ride across the bay, so that we would be able to see the promised fireworks from across the water, after which we would be a few bus stops closer to our apartment. So, as 2017 turned into 2018, we watched the illuminated old buildings of Valletta from across the water, and then we saw some fireworks for about 3 minutes and that was that.

Not quite **Great Zimbabwe**, but some care obviously went into giving this cairn a specific shape. Connected to the low walls in farmland, perhaps they serve or served as markers? Picture credit: Author.

It seems that we are always walking somewhere… in this case, in perfect weather — cool and sunny. Picture credit: Author.

So, there you have it: some of the highlights of our short visit to Malta. If you have any interest in historical sites, in old churches and castles, very old temples, in long walks or geology, and in good food, then by all means go there, you’ll enjoy it! Just don’t expect fantastic fireworks at year-end.

Summarize

A taste of Malta

Sunny winter days on the edge of Europe