Malta in the Mediterranean: Where Arabia meets Europe

 

Built from limestone, Malta's capital city of Valletta glows in the Mediterranean sun 

We're not beach people. Nor are we all that interested in military history.

So why will we be soon visiting Malta, a handful of tiny islands in the Mediterranean between Sicily in Italy and Tunisia in North Africa? It‘s a country mainly known for its summer resorts, its history as a strategic military site during World War II, and the place where Catholic crusaders defeated the Islamic Ottoman Empire in the 1500s.

Our decision started with a search for a new destination to explore with convenient connections to Bari in Southern Italy where we plan to visit friends in the town where my grandfather was born. 

A Ryanair flight to Bari from the Maltese capital of Valletta popped up on Google Flights around the same time I spotted an article titled "There's more to Malta than Beaches."

"Where Arabia Meets Europe" is how Saudi AramcoWorld Magazine described Malta in its February issue. A confluence of cultures - Greek, Roman, Arabic, Sicilian, Spanish, French and British - gifted Malta with a blend of culinary traditions, architecture and a semitic language in the same family as Arabic and Hebrew, with phrases adapted from French and Italian. 

I booked the Ryanair flight.

Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean

Getting a handle on Malta's geography is tricky. The country includes five islands, three inhabited, dominated by steep limestone cliffs indented by bays, inlets, and coves. Deciding where to base ourselves for six nights was the first challenge

The most obvious choice is Valletta, the European Union's smallest capital filled with 16th century Baroque-style buildings built by the Knights of St. John, a Catholic brotherhood, founded in Amalfi, Italy in 1048. Called the Knights Hospitaller, they originally provided a nursing hospital for sick pilgrims in Jerusalem, but later took on a military role fighting Muslim invaders during the Crusades. 

Following the reconquest of the Holy Land by Islamic forces, the Knights moved on to Greece where they were later expelled by the Ottomans. Searching for a new base, they accepted an offer from Roman Emperor Charles V to occupy isolated and sparsely-populated Malta for the price of a single Maltese falcon.

The backstreets of Birgu

The Knights settled in Birgu, a city on a peninsula stretching out across the harbor. Following the1565 Great Siege when the Knights and Maltese civilians successfully halted the Ottoman expansion in the Mediterranean, the Knights' leader, Jean de Valette, set out to build a new heavily-fortified city across the harbor from Birgu to be called Valletta. 

Built entirely of golden limestone, it developed into a center of Baroque architecture, featuring grand churches, monasteries and gardens. 

St. John's Co-Cathedral, a Baroque showpiece built by the Knights of St. John in 1573.

After looking for places to stay in Valletta and finding them either booked or expensive, we  decided to base ourselves in quieter and less-congested Birgu. Our Airbnb ($130 per night) is  an air conditioned apartment in a  renovated 300-year-old townhouse  a short ferry or bus ride across the water from Valleta. Pictured below is the exterior of the apartment with a gallarija, a traditional Maltese enclosed wooden balcony, an Arabic-inspired feature designed to offer with privacy, ventilation, and a view of the street

Airbnb in Birgu's Medieval quarter

Buildings with Arab-style enclosed balconies 

We hope to explore beyond the usual guidebook recommendations with the help of a few walking tours and a 7-day bus pass good for unlimited rides on Malta's excellent transportation network. We'll use an Airbnb Experiences' three-hour street food tour to get acquainted with Maltese cuisine, and plan to visit the main food hall called-Suq Tal-Belt, Suq, taken from the Arabic word for "marketplace." .

Traditional Maltese coffee is blended with chicory, ground cloves and aniseed

Bloggers with YouTube videos point visitors to local neighborhoods within walking distance of  Valletta. One is Hamrun, a neighborhood the AramcoWorld story described as a multicultural mix of immigrants, ones who have lived here for decades and those who can trace their lineage back centuries. Here, the story said, visitors will find  "a pan-African shop of goods called Inshallah Mini market is sandwiched between a Catholic church and an Afghan restaurant. Just a few blocks down, past a diner sporting American flags and the Australian butcher, is a Syrian-owned nut shop." 

As for our Ryanair flight to Bari, there's a risk it could be cancelled due to fuel shortages caused by the U.S. war with Iran. There are other flights, so the worst that could happen is that we would have to an extra day in this surprising country. Maybe even hit the beach.