Malta

This blog is about a trip we took to Malta in early January. We are currently in Antalya, Turkey. And a bit behind on the blog! We still need to cover our two weeks in Fez. But Sue has been bugging me to get this one out. So, this blog is dedicated to our friends, Sue and Allan!

We enjoy our travels in Europe. Obviously! But we do miss our family and friends from the States.   Lately, though, we've had some visitors who were a real delight.

First was my daughter Nina, who joined us for a few days in Seville. We did all the usual Seville things: strolled through the narrow streets, admiring the architecture of the ancient (and some modern!) buildings; sitting in a café enjoying the tapas and a beer or café solo. Talking about photography, and comparing photos. Whatever, it’s always great to spend time with her.

Then, we had a visit from Sue and Allan, our long-time friends from Portland, OR. In addition to visiting Granada and Sevilla they had a hankering to get over to the island nation of Malta, a place we’ve often thought of visiting, too. So, after a few days of strolling the streets and enjoying the tapas and beer and other pleasures of Seville, we boarded a plane for the 3-hour flight to Valletta, Malta’s capital city.

Cold. Maybe that’s a trivial summary for a place with a long and vibrant history, but it was cold, and that made an impression on us. Cold and windy. Well, it WAS right after New Year’s, and so it was the dead of winter. We had some rain, but the sunny days were a delight.

Views of Valletta: Overview (top); seen from our apt. window (left); scene in the streets (right and bottom)

Originally settled by the Order of St. John (also known as the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, or simply the Hospitallers), Malta was taken over by the Ottoman Turks in the Great Siege of 1565, but ultimately re-taken by the Hospitallers. They built a great fortified city, named after the Grand Master of the order, Jean de Valletta. Pope Pius V sent an architect, Francesco Laparelli (honored by a statue today). So unlike many medieval cities, Valletta was designed with wide straight streets, avoiding the short narrow alleyways common to most cities of that era. The Order of St. John ruled the islands for the next 232 years.

Somewhere near the Opera House, at night

The French, under Napoleon, invaded Malta in 1798, and then capitulated to the British two years later. It was a British Protectorate for a time, and then a Crown Colony until 1964. Today Malta is an independent nation and part of the European Union. The British influence is still quite heavy, though. While the Maltese have their own language, English is also an official language, and the prime language of commerce. Which is to say, all the shops and restaurants in Valletta have signs and menus in English. While the British no longer have any governmental function in Malta, during the summer there may well be more Brits there than locals. It’s a huge vacation spot, and apparently quite crowded in the peak season.

Christmas lights!

Not so many people, though, in January. We found nearly all the shops and cafes open and doing a good business, but the streets were far from crowded. That first night out on the town we did run into a minor problem in that while most restaurants had extensive outdoor seating, there wasn’t much room inside. Oh, and did I mention it was cold? We did find the food to be good, and quite varied. Heavily influenced by Italy and Sicily (pizza, anyone?), and the demands of British vacationers, there was also excellent seafood (hey, it’s an island in the Med!)

For our second day, Sue and Allan suggested a bus ride to Mdena, a near-by city (also from the 15^th century), then on to a couple of very special sites. The island of Malta is home to some ancient ruins that predate the pyramids of Egypt. What?

Entrance to Mdena (top); Sue and Paula enjoying the city; Allan, an avid birder, finally gets his Maltese Falcon

Mdena was interesting, lots of highly-decorated stone buildings. It was quite remarkable, but by now I’m getting pretty used to old stone buildings. It was a great outing, and I have no regrets about going, but I found nothing particularly unique or special about Mdena (except, possibly, how to pronounce it…).

Cathedral of St. Paul in Mdena

The temples, though, were something else. There are two sites, known as the Ħaġar Qim & Mnajdra Temples, about 500 meters apart. (Actually, there are a number of Neolithic sites on Malta, but these are the best known and most popular). They have been dated to 3500 BCE, which long held the record for the oldest site of human habitation known (until the discovery of Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey, which seems to be about 6000 years older). I found it quite extraordinary to stand before these stones, carved and laid down so very long ago. Of course, no one knows exactly what the structures are or how they were used. The designation “temple” is something of a guess, I guess.

Overview of one of the sites, with details below. To the right, a rainbow, and a tiny carving unearthed among the temples.

We climbed around for a bit, took our photos, looked out to sea at the small island of Filfa, and moved on to the adjacent temple. The rain started then, in fits and starts. Both sites are covered to protect them from the elements (5000+ years old and we’re worried about damage from rain and wind? Whatever…), so we didn’t get wet. It was a long hike back to the bus stop, but the rain was just a sprinkle, and we were rewarded by a bit of a rainbow.

We later visited the archeological museum in Valletta, where many of the artifacts from the site are on display. Seeing the originals of the carved stones (reproductions have been placed at the sites themselves), particularly the intricate tiny statues, was quite a treat. One of the better stocked museums I’ve seen, and a must-visit in Valletta!

Carved stone taken from the temple sites; replaced by replicas.

Once back in town our interest shifted to dinner. We found an excellent restaurant that solved the seating problem by building a clear-plastic shelter around their outdoor tables. The fish was wonderful, the service quite good, and we stayed warm! Afterwards we tripped around the city at night, lit by the municipal Christmas lights. Here’s a brief video of Paula and Sue enjoying the evening and the music provided by the city of Valletta…

Paula and Sue and the Valletta Christmas Music

We had one final day on Malta, and then Paula and I were up early to the airport, flying back to Sevilla. We’d said our good-byes to Sue and Allan the night before; their plans had them heading to Gozo, the smaller of the two main inhabited islands of the Malta archipelago, for further explorations.

Bundled up in sunny but cold Malta

All in all we had a good time, and thoroughly enjoyed the company of our friends. We’ve been curious about Malta, and can now check that one off the list. Malta has its history, its astonishing archeological sites, and its beaches, but I don’t envision us making another visit.

A multi-selfie on Malta (with Christmas lights overhead).