Malta

Whenever the idea of traveling somewhere comes to my mind, I always ask myself: “What do I know about this place?” The things I knew about Malta were: The Knights of St. John that I was learning about in the history lesson, that they have a weird language, that they are a fiscal paradise and that the shipping industry is big there.

So, mixing historical places to visit and nice beaches in the midlle of the Mediteranean looked like good premises for a nice 1 week escapade.

The reality, was slightly differrent, though.

My initial plan was to rent a bike and cycle the island, since, its only 40km long and 10 large. Well, despite this, going by car, from on side to the other would take around 2h because of the traffic jams. I was told that Malta has about 1,5 cars/inhabitant, so, you would definetly not want to jalonate between this hell of a traffic. Moreover, there is barely a green belt to see, here and there, because of the extreme urbanisation.

So, reconfiguration of plans: let’s try the public transportation, since, with 21 euros a week, you can use all the buses getting you in, basically, every corner of the island. Bad idea! It takes ages to move from here to there because of the numerous stops they do and the already mentioned traffic.

The first thing to visit, was, of course, Valletta, where I’ve joined a free walking tour to get some more insights about the city’s history. Everything in Valletta is about the Knights of St. John. After being conquered by the Ottomans in the island of Rhodes, their former headquarter,the knights have settled in Malta in the 16th century and have build imposing citadels and churches, first in the 3 cities, on the other side of the nowadays Valletta, then, after the Great Siege of Malta, in Valletta itself.

 

The Knights of St. John were nobles coming from all over Europe and advertising themselves in front of the Pope as the defenders of Christianity. The Maltese cross you can see on the flag, with 8 corners, represent the eight lands of origin, or Langues of the Knights: Auvergne, Provence, France, Aragon, Castille and Portugal, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles. The co-cathedral in Valletta is devised in 8 main parts were the head-masters of the order were buried. The co-cathedral worth a visit, since it’s a quite impressive example of the Baroque and hosts 2 amazing Caravaggio paintings: Saint Jerome Writing and Beheading of St. John the Baptist.

 

My favourite spot in Valetta was the garden with a view over the harbor. There you can understand why Malta is an atractive destination when it comes to the film industry. Many movies were shooted here, including the famous Game of Thrones.

 

The entrance to the city consists of the Parliament House designed by Renzo Piano. Also, you can find, around the city, strange sculptures depecting maltese proverbs.

 

But, the real emblem of the city are the so called “galerias”, collorfull wooden balconies that can be found all over Valetta. It is said that they were first introduced in the architecture of the city by one of the grand masters of Valetta, Pinto, who was a very proud of himself kind of man and who used to hang paintings and sculptures of himself in those balconies, so that the population can admire him.

 

This year, Valetta is the European Capital of Culture, so, I did not miss the oportunity to go to one of the events. It was a contemporary maltese opera, on the topic of refugees. Very nice performance and a great oportunity to hear this strange language of theirs: the maltese, a strange mix of Arabic with Italian, written with Latin alphabet.

Apart the language, I expected much more Arabic influences, since, before the Knights of St. John, the island was under Arabic occupation and, since, they are not very far away from the Arabic countries in the north of the African continent. But, no, Malta is very much a western country.

Speaking of languages, although Malta has 2 official languages: English (since they use to be a British colony) and Maltese, and although all over Malta you can see Language Schools specialized in teaching English to foreigners, the Maltese people don’t speak such a good English. They seemed rather eager to speak Italian than English.

Because Sicily is around 150km far from Malta, Italian influences can be felt all over, especially in the cuisine. You can eat Pizza, Pasta and Gelato, as if you were in Italy. So, food-wise, Malta is very nice! Their traditional thing is a delicious ring-shaped bread called Jtira. I made friends with the guy from the kiosk in the corner of the street who was preparing me a delicious sandwich filled with whatever I wanted from the ingredients he was selling in his shop. 

 

But my biggest disappointment were the beaches in Malta: they are not very many, and the few of them are mostly rocky ones and extremely crowded. I’ve been to the famous Blue Lagoon, in Comino, which is said to be the most beautiful beach in Malta, which, indeed is beautiful, but, which I could not really enjoy because of the crowds of tourists and tens of boats. Probably, locals have their own spots were they go to enjoy the blue, clear waters around Malta. I also gave it a try for the St. Peter’s pool, but, again: no chances to get rid of the hundreds of tourists around. Luckily, I met a Belgium who found out from a local that 1km away from St. Peter’s Pool, there’s an even better beach, quite similar with the famous one. And indeed, I can say that was the only day when I actually enjoyed the sea in Malta.

 

 

 

Other very nice places that I have visited are:

– Mdina, the ancient capital of Malta, a medieval citadel, with charming narrow streets and stony buildings.

 

– Marsaxlokk, a fishermen village, in the south, with a nice promenade and amazing sea-food.

 

– Zurrieq, a small village that I saw during a religious festa, very decorated for St. Catherine’s celebration

 

– The Blue Grotto, were I had a tour by boat in the small caves full with turquoise waters

 

– Gozo, the other small island belonging to Malta, with a charming little harbor and a nice citadel in Victoria, the main city on the island

 

And because my souvenir, when I travel, is a book written by a local, I was searching for “In the Name of the Father (and the Son)” by Immanuel Mifsud, which is said to be the best contemporary Maltese writer, but unfortunately, I could not find it in none of the bookshops in Valetta. So, guess what I got instead: a Corto Maltese comic book!!! Hugo Pratt’s hero is an emblematic character of the island and was to be celebrated through a mise-en-scene of an opera performance based on one of the first volumes: Ballad of the Salt Sea.