April 29 and 30 - Valletta and Gozo, Malta

We spent two days in the little EU island country of Malta, officially the Republic of Malta.  We tied up the first day at a pier in Valletta, the capital city, and on the 30th we anchored off the neighboring island of Gozo.  Malta is an archipelago which lies about 50 miles south of Italy, about 170 miles east of Tunisia and 200 miles north of Libya.  Only three of the islands making up the archipelago are inhabited and we visited two, Malta and Gozo.

The history of this place is incredible. Malta has been inhabited since at least 5900 BC.  Its location, like that of its neighbor Sicily, gives it significant geostrategic importance for transit from east to west in the Mediterranean.  Over the millennia it has been occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Spanish, Normans, French and English.  That doesn’t leave many western civilizations out.  Each of those groups has contributed to the culture of the country.  The official languages are English and Maltese, the latter which I find very interesting.  Maltese includes some elements of Italian and Romance language, but it also includes Arabic components and is actually classified as a Semitic language, like Hebrew and Arabic also both Semitic.  Unlike those two, Maltese is the only Semitic language written in Latin script. As someone who started college a hundred years ago in the Institute of Language and Linguistics I find that fascinating.

I must write more about two periods of Malta’s history which I find particularly interesting.  After being ruled by many groups that I listed above, in 1530 the Holy Roman Emperor gave the islands to the Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Knights of the Order of St. John.  Those knights were a military religious order who had been Crusaders.  After being driven out of the Holy Land they first went to the island of Rhodes.  They were driven from there by the Ottoman Empire in 1522 and came to Malta.  The Knights ruled Malta and Gozo for more than 250 years.  In 1565 the Ottoman Empire attempted to take Malta and laid siege to it.  The Ottoman fleet is said to have included nearly 200 vessels and its army numbered about 40,000.  The Knights Hospitaller numbered 500.  Together with an army of 6000 inhabitants of Malta and some mercenaries from Italy and Spain  they withstood the onslaught and after four months of siege and fighting the Ottomans departed.  It wasn’t until 1798 when Napoleon came along that the control of Malta changed hands.  After Napoleon’s defeat Malta became a British dominion.

The second period of Malta’s history worth mentioning is its part in WWII.  As I wrote earlier it holds a strategic position and so the Axis (Germany and Italy) wanted to take the islands. The Allies were using Malta to launch attacks on the Italian navy and it served as a listening post to intercept German radio messages.  The Axis laid siege again to Malta and did heavy bombing.  The Italians and Germans did blanket bombing of the islands and to put into perspective what the islands sustained think of this – Malta received roughly three times as many bombs per square mile than London did during the blitz.  Malta didn’t fall despite being obliterated by the attacks. It became a republic in 1974 and in 2004 joined the European Union.

The Grand Harbour where we docked is absolutely spectacular.  Over the centuries huge fortresses were built and after WWII they have been rebuilt.  I had been to Malta before so I didn’t plan a tour.  Instead I wanted to go ashore, take a lift that is there to take people to the battlements over the harbor and take some photos.  I didn’t make it past the shops at the dockside.   I went in and found some things I liked, one of which had to be altered so that’s how I spent my day.  I’m happy despite not having any exciting pictures to show of my visit to Valletta this time.

You can see in these pictures the fortresses built around the Grand Harbour

On the 30th when we anchored off Gozo I did do some sightseeing.  All the tours involved “strenuous” activity which is not my thing so I opted to do what I’ve done many times before;  I went ashore and negotiated a price with a taxi driver to take me around his island. I sat up front with 66-year Mario who is a native Gozitan (that’s what they’re called) and had a lovely few hours.  I learned about his family, all of whom live on Gozo.  One thing I thought was quite interesting was that one of his sons and that son’s wife were unable to have children so they adopted a one-year-old Vietnamese baby.  Talk about going to the other side of the Earth to find a child.  

Gozo is a pretty rural and agricultural island.  We passed lots of terraced fields. In some fields there were freshly cut bales of hay waiting to be picked up and taken to farms for cows and sheep, both of which are raised here.  Naturally there are olive and lemon groves.  The terrain is hilly and at the moment green.  Mario told me in the summer it is quite dry and much browner looking.  Once again there were lots of prickly pear plants growing along the roadside most of which have stone fences separating the roadway from the fields. The villages we passed through all had houses that were two story and made of sandstone so they were all a dusty tan color.  Most had balconies on the second floor. There are some natural geological arches and a grotto but I didn’t see them because I would have had to go down lots of stairs (and come back up again!) and I avoid that now.

The view of Gozo from my veranda

One of several windmills on Gozo to grind grains

A typical street lined with sandstone houses

These are two showing the fields in the interior

All the roads were lined with stone fences like this.

The island is primarily Catholic and so there are quite a few churches.  I only went in one in the town of Xewkija (absolutely no idea how to pronounce that name), Mario’s hometown.  It is the Church of St. John the Baptist and was very pretty inside.  It has the world’s third largest unsupported dome. The dome is nearly 90 feet in diameter and rises nearly 250 feet.  Along our way we stopped at a couple of overlooks where I could see the interior of the island and the coast meeting the sapphire water.  Much of the coastline is cliffs as opposed to sandy beaches.  We did stop in one little village by a cove where people could swim.

A statue of the risen Christ we passed on her way to Xewkija. It reminds me of the several Christ the Redeemer statues I've seen.

The domed church in the distance is the Church of Saint John the Baptist

Church of John the Baptist

One of the pretty beaches

Something Mario told me was rather sad.  Malta apparently has one of the most corrupt governments in the world.  A developer, who no doubt greased many palms, has gotten permits to build 10 story buildings on Gozo.  Unfortunately that will probably change the whole character of the place.  Mario said the Gozitans aren’t happy about it but there’s not much they can do.

After circumnavigating the island I arrived back at the tender dock and bid Mario farewell.  All in all it was a nice day.

My home away from home with Malta in the distance

Mario and me.  I take a cane when I go ashore places where there are uneven pavements and steps.  In Europe handrails are not a given and the last thing I need to do is fall.

Some pretty impressive cliffs sailing away from Gozo