Visit Malta, the Mediterranean crossing-point with an extraordinary history
Malta is a great survivor and twice in the past 500 years it has saved Europe from disaster. In the Great Siege of 1565 the Knights of St John withstood a four month long attack by the Ottomans and thereby ensured the safety and security of Christian Europe. And in 1942 it withstood endless Nazi bombs and earned the George Cross which is still emblazoned on the national flag. There are good reasons for the British people to be grateful for Malta’s loyalty and support all those years ago. This tiny island (smaller in size than the Isle of Wight) even wanted incorporation into the UK in the early 1960s. But, Britain having rejected such overtures, the Maltese opted for independence. The islanders are still good friends of the UK which is worth remembering as the political scandal following the murder of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 continues to unfold.
Visiting Malta made me aware again of the extraordinary history of this Mediterranean crossing-point. The Maltese language is witness to the island’s antiquity and its origins can be traced back to the Phoenicians; a Latinised version of Arabic, it is the only Semitic language recognised as an official language of the EU. Empire after Empire, from Carthage to the Normans and finally to the British, has for a time made Malta its own and left its traces in the landscape and buildings. Criss-crossing the island over a few days recently was pleasing in itself, but the experience constantly brings those past Empires to mind. Malta is soaked in history, from the mysterious “temples” built some five millennia ago and reminiscent in shape and size to ancient formations in Stonehenge and Orkney, to the massive ramparts and fortifications erected in the 16th and 17th centuries to protect the capital city of Valletta from marauders, and, finally, to the British naval shadows still falling across the truly extraordinary Grand Harbour around which Valletta grew up.
Of course it is as a summer tourist destination that it is best known elsewhere in Europe and particularly in Britain. And anyone who has yet to visit should certainly do so; but it is far more than a sun and beach destination. It is especially charming in the winter months as an escape from our northern clouds. The Grand Harbour stuns the visitor as the sharp clear sunlight makes an enlivening contrast between the dark and creamy buildings all around and the deep blue waters below. Valletta repays studied attention and should be viewed in turn from the base of its fortifications to their towering heights above. Though the Knights of St John are now headquartered in Rome, the traces of their time in Malta are everywhere to be seen and enjoyed.
Malta is more than Valletta. Inland is to be found the charming beauties of the old capital of Mdina whose quiet streets (said to be so because in earlier times the rich inhabitants cut out their servants’ tongues to ensure they could never gossip about them) host grand houses. There is also a museum containing an exquisite collection of woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer. Charming small towns spot the landscape and local food and wine (yes, there are some more than adequate local Cabernet Sauvignons) are in all too plentiful supply: traditional food is provided on large, dauntingly overloaded plates.
The murder of Caruana Galizia was a horrifying tragedy and the culprits and those who may have protected them should be brought to face justice. But Malta is a small state (unsurprisingly also the largest per capita recipient of EU regional funds) and is making its own way in the world. And it is a great small state with a past of which it is rightly proud and for which we should be grateful. The understandable media spotlight shone on the island in recent months should not obscure that larger historical picture and collective debt.