Sweet Maltesers

February 2025

Valletta

Wow! What a treat!

Our apartment is right in the old part of the city, the capital of Malta.

And this is our view.

After brekky Carmen and Claudi headed off for a walk, and I went off on my own a little later.

The city is beautiful, old but maintained, mainly quiet, but with a few little hubs of activity.

And yes, the sun was out and it was warm. Around 15 degrees warm. What an absolute treat for me, after a northern European winter that has, as far as I'm concerned, lasted long enough, thank you.

Right: The Sleeping Soldier World War II Memorial. Malta really got hammered during WWII, and was one of the most intensely bombed areas in the whole of Europe. The German and Italian air forces bombed it for years, and constantly attacked its shipping lanes and harbours, attempting to starve it into submission.

But the British Air Force fought tooth and nail to stop the Axis powers taking control of the extremely strategically important island, and, despite losing many teeth and nearly running out of nails, they prevailed. Due to the island's close proximity to northern Africa, controlling it provided a huge advantage in the battle for northern Africa, and helped seal the Allied powers' victory there.

One legacy of the war is that the Maltese love the British. A young Princess Elizabeth lived here for a year before she became queen, and always spoke highly of the place.

A monument built in the form of, yep, a Greek/Roman temple.

Stunning buildings...

Below: Banners are being set up around town for the country's main annual  religious festival, the Feast of St Paul's Shipwreck, which is happening this coming weekend.

Below: The St Paul of the Shipwreck Church, named after, you know, the St Paul, the actual famous apostle of Jesus, who was apparently shipwrecked in Malta for three months in 60 AD. While he was here he brought Christianity to the island.

The upcoming festival celebrates that event. More about that later no doubt, as I'll still be here.

From 1813 to 1964 Malta was a Crown colony of Britain. Pretty much everyone speaks English here, as their second language, after Maltese, which derives from both Arabic and a Sicilian dialect of Italian. It sounds sorta Balkan-esque. Most speak Italian too. And they even have their own dialect of English, called Maltese English.

And Maltesers are so sweet.

I think this may be one of the statues that'll be paraded around town during the festival.

This guy enacted loads of social reforms during his prime ministership.

Manwel Dimech, the Prime Minister responsible for formally requesting independence from the UK in 1962. Two years later it actually happened.

There's just so many beautiful streets in this town.

Below Centre, and Left: These balconies are very common all over the country.

Above Right: Our apartment building. We're on the top floor, the fifth.

Our first cooked lunch. It was late.

Left: The local bread here's very Italian-ish, mainly white and/or panini-ish.

Centre: Lunchtime view

Right: This cutie is in the apartment stairwell hallway

Left: Romanasana

Centre: Decorated balcony, ready for the festival.

Left: Les Gavroches, (the street urchins), a statue of Parisian street kids by Antonio Sciortino, inspired by the Victor Hugo novel Les Misérables.

Centre: The Saluting Battery, where they blast cannons off during special events. Yeah, the super rich come here too, like all Mediterranean ports. Those yachts across the bay were extremely ritzy. I went over there a couple of times later on.

Left: The Central Bank of Malta

Right: Incredible walls and sandstone cuttings.

The Triton Fountain

A Hike In The West

Malta is so beautiful, and Carmen, Claudi and I were very keen to explore it.

One day we decided to take a bus to Ħad Dingli, which lies on the west coast of the main island. Our plan was to hike along the beautiful cliffs which hug the coast there.

Left: The original Artful Dodger was that wily and skilful pickpocket from Oliver Twist, that famous book by Charlie Dickens.

Centre: Yes, it is worth visiting. Show ya later.

Right: Banners and decorations are starting to be erected all around the city for the upcoming fiesta.

Notice the diverse names on our bus route. There's Arabic, Spanish, French, English, Italian, and of course, Maltese. This place has been colonised by every Dom, Rico and Henri over its illustrious history.

Occupy Malta

The islands were first settled by human animals around 5900BC, by various European and African groups, who farmed there, and, believe it or not, pretty much deforested the whole place way back then. It used to be covered in the most beautiful confiers, apparently, and, unfortunately, there's really not that many trees around still, to this day.

In about 700 BC the Phoenicians arrived, (originating from what is now Lebanon), followed by the Romans five hundred years later. The Byzantines (eastern Roman Empire) came later, and were eventually expelled by the Arabic Aghlabids from Tunisia. Later the Normans came, from their county in Sicily, and slowly the Christianisation of the country became widespread.

Then there were the Swabians (southern Germans), the Aragonese (Catalonians), and eventually the Spanish. The Spanish gave the islands to the Order of St John in 1530, which ruled them as a vassal state of Sicily. The church did that sort of thing in those days.

The Ottomans tried to take Malta, but were repelled, and the Order ruled the islands for a couple of centuries, until the French occupied it in 1798. But the Maltese rebelled against French rule, and they were expelled in 1800, and became a British Protectorate (a de facto colony).

Independence from the British came in 1964.

Left: The local buses are cheap, frequent, and super nice all over the country. The government's really doing a lot of things right around this place.

There were beautiful verdant fields on the way.

Left: It rained during our bus trip, but I ordered the rain to go away when we got out, and so it did.

Centre: Cherry blossoms are out. Damn, we left our kimonos back in the apartment.

Right: Classic stony walls. See, very few trees. Not sure why they don't slowly revegetate this place.

We met an amazing English woman who now lives in Malta. Her friend liked us.

The west coast cliffs. If we swam across the ocean here we'd get to Tunisia. Sounds very appealing (except the swimming bit). I'd better go there.

This chapel was closed, so I ordered Carmen and Claudi to ram it with their heads, just like soldiers used to ram gates open in medieval times. But it didn't work.

There was even a Bronze Age archaeological site on the cliffs.

Our track led right up on top of this steep concrete path, which has a major water pipe running through it.

We got high in no time.

Yay, more gums! There's lots around the Mediterranean.

It was stunning up there.

There's some great steep laneways jammed with cafés and restaurants near our place. At night they're packed with aperitifians, who evolve into loud diners in no time flat.

Our street was named after my (and Claudi's) sisters, two Ursulas.

A Real Sunrise

The next day I got up at the crack of dawn.

Yeah yeah, don't get too excited, because I just went to the loo, and then went straight back to bed.

That's more civilised innit.

There's a few rolling hills around this island, and lots of long skinny streets like the ones below in the old city.

It's a bit like Sydney Harbour around the coastal parts of the city - you regularly see water in different directions as you wander around.

Across the water is Sliema, the resort and touristy nightlife district. Quite a few medium height hotels and apartments have gone up there.

Malta became independent from Britain in 1964

Floriana is a beautiful green district just outside the old city. I wandered around there a few times.

One of the old city gates.

My destination today was St Joseph High Street. I'd noticed it on the bus the other day, and it looked like a good locals place to explore.

Centre: And yes, these sort of areas have loads of cheap local foods. These are various pastries filled with meats, cheese and veggies, called pastizzi (the smaller ones on the bottom) and cassata (the larger round ones on top).

Yeah, don't worry, I've had many of them, sometimes they're stuffed with peas, or ricotta, or spinach. Mmmmm. But mainly meat, fish or chicken of course.

Above Right: Random. Better getta bitta beef! inter ya.

Left: Of course there's a sizeable North African minority in Malta, like in all Mediterranean countries.

Right: Pea cassata. This one was a little burnt.

After my long café stint, night was falling.

Football is an ancient game.

Eventually I bussed it back to the old city, and walked home. It really does feel like home.

Left: This clock tells you the time, the day of the week, and the date. So clever.

Right: Of course, we needed to do what everyone does before dinner in Italy and Malta. Have an aperitif of course. This is Aperol Spritz. I love it.

Break On Through

The next day, whilst Carmen and Claudi explored the nearby streets armed with an amazing book about the old city of Valletta that Amy's mum Olive has written and had published, I walked off alone, all the way around to the other side of the harbour that we look out onto every day from our kitchen window.

But first we had these pastries. Thanks Claudi. While we ate we watched the ships come in and out of the Grand Harbour. Just like we do every day.

I strolled through Floriana again, there's so much beautiful sculpture in there

This is the first mosque I've seen so far in this whole, very Christian, country.

Left: You need baggage insurance before you get into a relationship here. They should introduce that everywhere.

Centre: Merħba means welcome in Maltese, very similar to the Turkish word for hello, merhaba.

Amazing old car. Love the stepladder.

I strolled through this. Even Jesus had tunneled his way in there, and laid down his heart for you. Apparently.

A massive cruise ship leaving the Grand Harbour.

Right: The centre of the satellite town of Bormla.

The AUM (American University of Malta), a private university funded by a Jordanian entrepreneur, was opened in 2017, and looks very well funded.

One of the number of ritzy marinas in Malta, which houses some massive private yachts.

Below: The next bay over, which separates Birgu from Kalkara. The three cities of Bormla, Birgu and Kalkara are locally known as the Three Cities, but for the life of me I can't understand why.

More Malting To Do

Yeah, I've got time here.

It's such a blessing.

Carmen and Claudi will be here for a couple more days, then I'll stay on longer. We plan to visit Gozo, the second largest island in Malta, and check out more of this island too.

The whole country is really such a beautiful place.

Historic, scenic, culturally rich, and jam packed full of friendly locals.

You really should come❤️

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