Malta – the island of the Knights of St. John
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| The houses in Malta have characteristic colorful, wooden balconies |
Malta, a tiny island country located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea, has always been of great strategic importance and has played an important role for successive occupying powers, who aspired to dominate the Mediterranean Sea and interact with powers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
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| The port of Gzira |
The Maltese are renowned for their warmth, hospitality and generosity towards strangers, a trait noted in the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostle Paul is said to have been shipwrecked off the coast of Malta in 60 AD and was the one who brought Christianity to the island. The numerous mass graves, found in various parts of the island, represent the first elements of Christianity in Malta.
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| Telephone booths from older times |
But firstly,
let's say a few words about the history of the island. The
Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, the
Hospitallers, when
they fled Jerusalem after the end of the Crusades, settled in Rhodes
in 1309, but were expelled by the Ottomans and found refuge in Malta
in 1530. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V granted Malta to the order
of the homeless Knights of Rhodes, who were renamed the Order of the Knights of Malta, the so-called Hospitallers.
Malta became a fortress and under the Knights' Grand Master Jean de
Valette successfully resisted the Ottoman siege of 1565. Before the
Knights Hospitallers there had been various occupying powers,
including the Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, who left their mark
on the language and customs, the Normans, Sicilians, Swabians and
Aragonese. The French and the British followed.
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| Hotel Domus Zamittello in Valletta |
In 1798 the French army
officer Napoleon Bonaparte, later Napoleon I, briefly occupied the
island after British troops were called in to assist the Maltese, and
after a three-month siege the French surrendered the island. Over the
years, the Maltese people have protested against British rule and
fought for their autonomy, living under a strict colonial regime with
power in the hands of the governor. The island flourished during the
Crimean War (1853–56) and was favorably affected by the opening of
the Suez Canal in 1869. During World War II (1939–45), the island
was heavily bombed by the Axis Powers, but did not surrender. The
heroism of the Maltese people was recognized when the island as a
whole was awarded the King George Cross, Britain's highest civilian award. Self-government was granted in 1947 but Malta finally
gained its independence on 21 September 1964, became a member of the
Commonwealth and then a member of the Council of Europe until the
island became a republic on 13 December 1974, with a referendum on EU
membership in 2004 and with the euro as its official currency on 1
January 2008.
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| Valletta |
Let's give some general
information first:
• Although
the main island is small, measuring just 25 km long and 18
km wide, it is impossible to get around it by public
transport in one day, especially if you want to do some sightseeing.
You will need at least four days, we had seven days at our disposal.
• It is
preferable to stay in Valletta or nearby. We stayed in Gzira, at the
Grand Suites Hotel Residences & Spa.
• All
buses depart from the bus terminal in the capital, Valletta. Get a
7-day multi-trip bus pass. It costs €25 and runs 24 hours a day for
any bus on the main island and Gozo, and for the route to and from
the airport.
• There
are also hop-on hop-off buses, but they are quite expensive, costing
€60 for three days.
• The
ferry to Gozo cost around €5, with the return ticket paid (all
prices are for March 2025).
• The
fishing village of Marsaxlokk has a flea market every Sunday,
where you can find all sorts of local products and fresh fish, fruit
and vegetables. It is well worth a visit.
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The church Bażilika
Santwarju tal-Madonna tal-Karmnu as you can see it from Gzira
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• It is a
small island with a population of almost half a million people, so
almost everywhere you go you will find a village. There are many
places to explore, archaeological sites, churches, museums and places
of natural beauty mainly near the sea.
• The
country includes five islands, Malta (the largest), Gozo and Comino
and the uninhabited islets of Kemmunett (Comminotto) and Filfla,
located about 93 km south of Sicily and 290 km north of Libya.
• Roman
Catholicism has a great influence on the culture of the island, which
is a mixture of Arabic and Italian traditions. Folk traditions have
developed mainly around the feast of the patron saint of a village,
which is marked by processions and fireworks. The Maltese cross, adopted by the Hospitallers of St. John, is associated with the identity of Malta and is printed on the country's euro currency.
• Important holidays are Good Friday, celebrated with colorful processions, and Mnarja, the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, held the weekend before 29 June in the Buskett Gardens in Rabat. It is the country's main festival, with traditional singing competitions (għana) and a picnic with fried rabbit. The annual Carnival is celebrated in various villages, but the main events take place in Valletta, with dance performances including the Parata, a sword dance commemorating Malta's victory over the Turks in 1565, and Il-Maltija, Malta's national dance.
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| Cathedral Church of St. John at Valletta |
• The
Italian artists Caravaggio and Mattia Preti lived for several years in
Malta, with their most important paintings adorning the country's
churches. The Maltese are highly literate and appreciate the arts. Over
the years, many local artists and scholars have enriched the country's
cultural heritage in the fields of architecture, music, painting,
sculpture, literature and theatre.
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| Valletta |
• In
Malta you can enjoy typical Mediterranean products such as olives,
garlic, cheese, along with a wide variety of fresh fruits and
vegetables. Pork, rabbit, beef and chicken are very common as well as all kinds of seafood and fish. They have a wide variety of desserts, from Italian panettone, ice cream, sweets with dates, citrus fruits, nuts and spices.
• Well-known dishes are Torta tal-Lampuki (fish pie), Stuffat Tal-Fenek
(rabbit stew), Bragoli (beef stuffed with red wine sauce), Imqarrun
Il-Forn (baked pasta), pastizzi (pies stuffed with ricotta but also with
chicken or peas), Ftira Biz-Zejt (tuna sandwich), Bigilla (mashed
beans, similar to broad beans, olive oil, salt and chilli, used as a
dip), Zalzett tal-Malti (fresh pork sausage), Soppa tal-armla, known as
"widow's soup", as it contains mainly cheap ingredients, such as
vegetables, onion, garlic and tomato paste, ingredients that a widow
could afford, often served with poached egg and soft cheese. Also
Timpana (baked pasta), Imqaret (diamond-shaped sweet with date
filling), and Kwarezimal, traditional Lenten sweets, made from almonds,
flavored with citrus fruits and spices and topped with nuts.
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