The Maltese adventure – part I

The climate has a strong influence on the way the landscape looks. There's strong winds, high temperatures and much sun, so apart from cacti and artificial parks and growths you cannot really find any vegetation. The image of cities and people show clear influence of the knights of St. James and the Englishmen who've left a strong mark on the islands. The legacy of St. James' knights – the Maltese knights, is visible in the palaces, fortresses and a grand capital. The English influence is seen in typical red phone boots, sweet buns, love of tea and driving on the left side of the road – and their typical electricity outlets. The most spectacular sight of Malta, however, was left by their prehistoric native tribes. Malta offers unique megalithic sights that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

La Valletta is undoubtedly one of the most charming capitals of Europe. It's excellently strategically placed, with so much sand colour as you can rarely see. And this small area hides away so many attractions. It's located on a narrow cape surrounded by harbours on both sides. The story about the origin and shape of Malta is tightly connected to the knights of St. James, who are said to have landed on a deserted peninsula in 1566 and placed the corner stone for the future and mighty baroque city. In La Valletta power, wealth and strictness of order are intertwined with kindness, vividness and modern lifestyle. Arriving to La Valletta is marvellous regardless if you come by boat to its very heart of step off at the last bust station at the turnabout near the mighty military post. We used the local transport. Walking around the city, above deep ditches spread around the town centre, towards the gate, you get the feeling that you're leaving the loud racket of cars, busses and rushing people behind, entering a magical world. 

 

Behind the mighty and tightly sealed walls you enter the magical world of the baroque town. Inside the walls the streets are spread like network. The heart of La Valletta is without a doubt the broad Republican road, along which there are palaces and the centrally located St. James cathedral. The bored looks of people seeing its strict exterior are quickly replaced by awe stricken "wow" and "oh" once you enter the splendour on the inside. It is not known as one of the most beautiful baroque churches for nothing. The marble floor covered by richly decorated headstones and the arched ceiling full of marvellous frescos. From the outside we admired the palace of grand master, where the leader of the knight St. James lived for 200 years. Today the palace hosts the national parliament and the office of the president. We were kindly asking and smiling as tourists, to move aside, so we could take the photos of the lovely facade of the palace Auberge de Castille et Leon, which – as so many other buildings here – reflects the aristocratic glitter of the town. It used to be the residence of the Castilian lodge of the Maltese order, but today it's the office of the prime minister. 

 

We walked pass the fortresses, restaurants that spread charming fragrances, shops inviting us to buy local souvenirs, and cafes where people sat around enjoying the relaxed atmosphere of this neat and clean – almost strict – city. The houses are built closely together, with a network of streets between them, from where you see the colourful window frames and balconies in all shades of each colour, and we walked among them towards the harbour that we reached in the dark, searching for Sliemo – our youth hostel.  

Mdina and Rabat used to for a combined settlement, but the Arabs placed a wall around Mdina, turning it into a fortified town. It feels as the spirit of the medieval city got caught behind the walls and cannot escape it. Mdina is a charming town with all the characteristics of a medieval town. You enter through the main gate that hide the mystical past. Cobblestone streets are narrowly surrounded by houses on both sides. The main street features the oldest and most beautiful palaces of the town, where noble families still reside. The lace like balconies invite views of people, the loud purple or blue colours of windows stand out sharply from the brightly brown of the walls and break the monotony of the Maltese island. In their own way they perfectly fit in, to calm the eyes which might get mad by all the sand colour stretching for miles around. Every now and then you'll find a tree in front of a house, bearing southern fruit and from time to time a car will pass you by, for which we've wondered how can it drive without scratching the paint on the narrow spaces between the houses. We can tell you our first-hand experience – Mdina has excellent creamy ice-cream, beautiful view of the surrounding landscape (which is not so beautiful, thought) and just a tad much of sandy brown for our taste. 

The man at the front desk of the hostel suggested we should visit the village on a Sunday, but as he had no time (we had our return flight at 3 o'clock on Sunday) and it was said to rain, we decided to visit it on a Saturday. We didn't see it occupied by the masses of tourists – and I guess it was much better for us that way – as it was humble like on all other days throughout the week. We were thrilled. The harbour with azure blue features swaying old fishing boats (called luzuji) in blue shades with a pitch of green, yellow, orange and red. The colourful patterns of luzuji are said to be the influence of Phoenicians, who arrived to Malta 800BCE. For a moment time seems to stand still (frozen for centuries) and only the power plant and a distant harbour spoil the calm and relaxed view. Fishermen are heading off or returning from the sea, proudly showing off their catch. Local people are sitting around on benches, with cigarettes in their mouth, not being bothered by the barking of a furry four legged critter that seemed to be the only one who noticed us nearing them. The restaurants on ground floors of old fishing houses are lonely and waiters are getting bored with nothing to do, but give us a nice smile as we try to capture the same scene in our lenses for the fifth time in a row. It really shows it's a Saturday, as we are probably the only tourists around. It is said that Marsaxlokk would be completely different on a Sunday, when the village bursts out with life when both local people and tourists come for the traditional fish market. Following the marked there should be the long and lazy lunch by the sea in one of the restaurants by the bay.