Malta Teaser
You’ll want to go back for more. Words and photos by Ian Sclater.
The dome of the St Marija Assunta
church in Mosta is one of the largest in the world
DESPITE being a favourite holiday destination of many for several decades, Malta largely remains one of the best kept secrets in the Mediterranean. It will appeal to a broad spectrum of visitors: families will appreciate its safety, unwinders will love its slow, big village lifestyle, avid sightseers will love its cultural and historical attractions, while action-seekers can let off steam with a range of outdoor activities and water sports (including some of the best scuba diving in the Mediterranean) and plenty hot nightspots.
Malta is also one of the best value Eurozone destinations, according to the Holiday Cost Barometer issued by the Post Office in March. The survey of 18 popular holiday destinations around the world placed Malta in third place for value behind Spain and Portugal. Throw in 300 days of sunshine a year and great food as varied as the ancestry of its hospitable inhabitants, and Malta has all the ingredients of a great break just a three-hour flight from the UK.
The Azure Window on Gozo
What we know as Malta is actually a cluster of five islands, only three of which – Malta itself, its sister island Gozo and between them the tiny Comino – are inhabited. They form the smallest EU country by both population and size. Malta itself is only 27 kilometres long and barely 15 kilometres wide, with no destination more than half an hour away. Gozo is half the size. At around 400,000, the total population of the Maltese Islands is less than that of Edinburgh.
The abiding visual memory of Malta is of creamy-coloured towns and villages, castles, palazzos, watchtowers, farmhouses and villas, fertile red earth scattered over a limestone landscape, terraced hillsides, dry stone walls and cliffs like layered cake - all surrounded by crystal clear waters. In Mdina and Valletta, Malta has two of the finest walled cities in the world.
Valetta
The Grand Harbour in Valletta
Built in the baroque style in the 16th century by the Knights of St John, the entire city of Valletta, the capital, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With its regular, grid-like layout, it was one of the first cities built according to detailed plans, while in an early example of harnessing natural energy, the streets run perpendicular to the sea to catch cooling, onshore breezes.
Valletta ran out of room long ago, and the cramped city seems to spill off all three seaward sides of the small peninsula on which it stands. With a population of only 7,000, and barely two kilometre (about 1.25 miles) at its longest point, it is one of the world’s smallest capital cities.
Entering through the impressive City Gate, a good place to start is the Upper Barakka Gardens, where there are sweeping views over the Grand Harbour, one of the finest natural, deep water anchorages in the world.
The main sights are located around the main thoroughfare, Republic Street. The austere facade of St John’s Co-Cathedral, the principal church of the Knights of St John, does not prepare you for the magnificence within. Intricately carved limestone walls surround a vaulted ceiling, tapestries, side altars painted with scenes from the life of St John and floors paved with Knights’ marble tombstones. The centrepiece attraction is the Italian painter Caravaggio’s greatest masterpiece, The Beheading of St John, a giant tableau completed during his stay in Malta.
Elsewhere, the State Rooms in the Grand Master’s Palace, Malta’s centre of rule since 1571 and home to its Parliament, are open to the public, the National Museum of Fine Arts includes a selection of paintings by Malta’s most famous artist, Guiseppe Cali, and the National War Museum houses a large collection of WWII memorabilia. Once past the pedestrianised city centre, the streets slope down to a lively working class district where music drifts down from balconies, washing lines flutter, children chatter and cats sun themselves on doorsteps. Republic Street culminates at the star-shaped Fort St Elmo, the front line in Malta’s defences from the 16th century to WWII.
Malta
Mdina is one of the world’s finest walled cities
The island is packed with interesting sights. The Sunday morning fish market by the bay at Marsaxlokk on the southeastern side is a scene which may not have changed much in thousands of years, with the fleet of fishing boats, mostly blue and turquoise, bobbing in the harbour and fishermen repairing their nets. Not one boat is without the eyes of the Egyptian god Osiris painted on its prow to protect its crew. The locals turn up early to snag the choice catches, as the vendors at their stalls fill the morning air with a steady stream of fish names and prices.
Built on a hill near the centre of Malta, Mdina is the old medieval capital from the time of the Knights of Malta. Before that it was a colonial settlement of Imperial Rome. Beautifully preserved, the tiny, perfect city offers a glimpse into the past like few other places. Its bastions and cathedral dome dominate the skyline, while inside the walled town, a quiet, peaceful atmosphere prevails (although it is fully inhabited), inspiring its nickname, ‘The Silent City.’ A warren of narrow streets, towering walls, stone steps and archways, it is mainly off limits to cars. The views from the bastion ramparts are among the best on Malta.
At 67 metres high, the Rotunda of St Marija Assunta in Mosta, commonly known as ‘the Mosta Dome,’ is the fourth largest church dome in the world after St Peter’s in Rome, St Paul’s in London and Sta. Sophia in Istanbul. Famously, the 10,000-capacity church took a direct hit from a WWII German bomb, with 300 people in it. The bomb failed to explode (it may have been sabotaged by workers at the Skoda Works in German-occupied Czechoslovakia) and a replica is now on display. You can still see where roof repairs took place.
Gozo
A frequent ferry links Cirkewwa at the northern tip of Malta with Mgarr harbour on Gozo. The five-kilometre crossing takes about 25 minutes. (You can also take a 10- minute flight by seaplane from Valletta.)
On the way there and back you will pass by the tiny island of Comino, where the one resident family has been joined by a hotel complex and day visitors attracted by its hideaway beaches. Curiosity-seekers also go in close by boat to see the cavernous Blue Lagoon, a sheltered cove which is one of the most photographed natural attractions in the Mediterranean. St Mary’s Tower, a 17th century early warning system, surveys the scene.
Far less developed than Malta, laid back Gozo is where even the Maltese go on holiday. Despite there being a car for every single one of the island’s 29,000 inhabitants (and only one set of traffic lights), Gozo’s vibe is distinctly laid back, like in the fishing villages of Marsalforn in the north and Xlendi in the south. Gozo’s beaches are rarely crowded, with one notable stretch at Ramla Bay, where brilliant, orange-red sand and clear, turquoise waters make it one of the finest in Europe.
The main town, Rabat (British name Victoria) bustles in contrast to the rest of the island. It is at its liveliest at It-Tokk, the main market place. Rabat is dominated by the fortified Citadel, the highest point on the island and a great lookout over the town and surrounding area. The Monument of Christ, a replica of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue, stretches its arms on a nearby hill.
It may be just a quirk of erosion, but the Azure Window, a huge limestone arch spanning out over blue and green whitecaps at Dwejra Bay on the northwest side of the island, is impressive nonetheless.
The two Bronze Age Temples of Ggantija in the village of Xaghra are believed, along with Malta’s other six megalithic temples, to be the oldest man-made buildings in the world, predating the Pyramids and Stonehenge. A World Heritage Site, they date back to 3600BC. The amazing structures of huge, interlocking boulders are all the more impressive for having been built at a time when no metal tools were available to the natives of the Maltese islands and before the wheel was introduced.
INFO
How to get there From Edinburgh Ryanair flies year-round Tues & Sat. Fares from £37.99 ret. incl. taxes & charges. www.ryanair.com, T 0871 246 0000 From Glasgow Air Malta flies every Monday. Fares from £174 ret. incl. taxes & charges. www.airmalta.com, T 0906 103 0012 Where to stay All rooms at the Hilton Malta in St Julian’s have either sea views or overlook the swish Portomaso marina. The only Hilton in Europe to receive an EU eco-award, the island’s sea-facing bastion wall, a national monument, runs adjacent to the hotel’s pool area. From €175 (£150) per room per night (based on two people sharing) incl. breakfast & local taxes. www.hilton.co.uk/malta, T +356 2138 3383 Further info www.visitmalta.com