I am writing these few words in the island of Malta, having spent the last week and a half enjoying the sights, sounds, and particularly, the culinary tastes, of this splendid island. This is now the second time that I have spent Christmas here and I strongly recommend it as a place to enjoy the turn of the year. The weather is currently warmish and sunny, with the thermometer around 17 degrees C. The locals celebrate Christmas with the unapologetic gusto of a strong Catholic country, laced with a mix of influences (Arabic, British, southern Italian). The front windows of shops and private homes often carry brilliant decorations and Nativity scenes. Most balconies – there are a lot of balconies – have plastic Father Christmases attempting to scale the side of a house. There are pleasingly few signs that planning officials tell people what sort of decorations to put up.
Malta is noisy. Maltese people love fireworks with a passion that rivals that of the Chinese. Any excuse to set them off will do. And we are talking about seriously loud, bright fireworks. The great safety panic that seems to have stifled so much enjoyment in Britain, the USA and elsewhere is still held at bay – mostly – in this island of about 500,000 souls. There have been some bad accidents in the fireworks factories but the enthusiasm for the things is undimmed. Perhaps having survived the terrible bombings during the Second World War, the Maltese are not going to be frightened by a few rockets set off in the garden.
I have visited this place more than a dozen times, got married here, drunk far too much red wine than is good for me here, watched several theatre plays here, sailed here, swam here, but more than anything else, eaten myself silly here. One of the finest dishes you can get is Lampuki Pie, which is made from this particular fish. I have just consumed a rather large part of one.
I need to go for a lie down.
I was impressed with the story of the sunken avgas tanker. Rather than try to raise it, the Maltans just figured out how to pump the gas from the sunken tanker, so the German planes left the wreck alone.
Was it not lord Byron who said Valetta
“Is a city built by Gentlemen
For Gentlemen”
I love the place too!
Happy New Year you lucky dog!
Walter the whole story of the Maltese resistance towards German and Italian bombing campaigns during World War II, is one that greatly impresses. And I believe the tanker you are referring to is the SS Ohio.
The Maltese however have a record of great courage in the face of insurmountable odd. Anyone interested in Malta should certainly read something of the First Siege of Malta The Siege of Malta by Ernle Bradford.
A great, heroic, story very well told and well worth a read.
If you go back further Johnathan you can detect even more influences. Roman, Greek and Phoenician are all present. St. Paul was even shipwrecked there on his way to Rome.
Cardenio, absolutely. St Paul’s Bay, on the north-eastern side of the island, is named after the great man. I can also recommend Gozo, which is the smaller island to the north of the main one, and has some excellent scuba diving sites and is a bet less frenetic than the main island.
Malta is an archeologist’s paradise. Yes, I should have remembered to mention the Greeks, Romans and the Phonecians. The language now spoken in the island is a real potpourri of influences, which some say contains a lot of ancient Phonecian.
Lots of Arab influence too, which as I remember, not all of the residents were happy to acknowledge 😉
Spent 5 years of my childhood there. Lots of sandstone; old men sitting on the steps of the church; old ladies who would brush dust from the pavement outside their doors onto the pavement outside the neighbours’ door, who would emerge later to reverse the procedure; the annual procession where Virgin Mary statues would be paraded around town.
And of course, as Johnathan mentions, Lampuki, which might as well be a swimming chicken ’cause it certainly doesn’t taste like fish.
Better than lampuki is Hobz biz-zejt (bread with oil), the ideal lunchtime snack (also eaten elsewhere in the med but better with maltese bread, a loaf of which would probably kill if dropped on one’s head).
I have almost been killed in Turkey, Italy and Portugal, by the eccentric driving skills of the locals, but the European champions of bad driving are definately the Maltese.
A young lady came hurtling round the corner in Sliema one day talking on her mobile. Not good at the best of times, but she had it clamped to her right ear, but holding it with her left hand and nominally steering with her right. Consequently she could see SFA and missed us by inches.
I understand the Maltese also like bright colours on their houses, especially burgundies and purples. Any truth in this?
James, no. Most of the older houses are in a rather attractive honey-coloured hue, made out of the local stone or applied with a sort of rendered coating. The colours are similar to what you might see in the Cotswolds, albeit with a Med. twist in terms of style.
There has been some modern building in recent years in places such as Sliema and St. Julian’s on the eastern coast, near the main tourist and hotel areas. Frankly, a lot of ugly crap has been built. Some of the local politicians are bent and in the pockets of the local big developers, although I sense that there has been a bit of an attempt to build more attractive, less shoddy buildings.
Sometimes even an ardent defender of laissez faire like me has to accept that property-owners can have incredibly lousy taste.
Most of the island is built-up and Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
RAB is right about the driving. I have been coming hear now for about 23 years and the standard has marginally improved but it is still poor. The police are a bit more vigilant, though. I strongly suggest that if anyone comes here and hires a car, get insurance and take it easy.
The worst driving I have ever seen was in Greece. Those guys are psychotic.
On the food front, most of the seafood is good. Maltese are also famed for liking the rabbit. They are pleasingly non-PC in their dieterary habits.
There are decorative facades on some buildings but most new one’s are basic sandstone blocks with not too much garish colour added. Lots of colour inside maltese houses, and in bars and on boats. Burgundies and purples but also dark greens and deep yellows. The phoenicians were well known for their purple dyes so the popularity of the colour might well stretch back to ancient times.
I love the place. It’s like a surreal parallel universe Britain, what with everyone speaking english, red post boxes, Marks & Spencer, Dolcis etc.
What I couldn’t get over was how small it is. Especially Gozo. When you climb up to the Citadel in the centre of the island you can literally see every corner of it.
Malta is, as Johnathan says, incredibly densly populated, (quite a few Brit pensioners saving on the bills on 3 month cheap deals) and there a practically no trees . It must really freak out a Maltese person the first time they see a proper forest.