Malta

This post has been really hard to write, Malta is so small yet there is heaps of cool stuff there. I also lived there for four months so that is a lot of stuff to cram into a small article.

Of course I added cannons. What you see ahead is are the fortifications built around the coastal towns. I lot of Maltese cities and building look just like this. Also, if you have seen WWZ and remember the scenes in 'Israel' - yup, that was shot in Malta.

Malta is made up of three small islands, Malta, Comino, and Gozo. I worked on Malta, (unsurprisingly) the largest of the three and lived in Sliema, which is essentially where all tourists work and live over the summer. Luckily for me as my job was a essentially a tourist events manager I got to visit all islands multiple times. The weather was great all sunshine and hotness, which, coming from Australia, was nothing new. A few of my colleagues and most tourists who had travelled from Europe found it somewhat more difficult to handle. I laughed at the many counts of heat stroke I witnessed. In hindsight I probably should have assisted.

Azure Window on the island of Gozo.

Malta is known for many things - great swimming in their beaches, the summer nightlife, its amazing history, and churches (dear god are there a lot of churches). Oh yes, and Festas - particularly the Hamrun Festa - but more on that later.

There will be plenty of Hamrun Festa photos later, for now feast your eyes on Gozo, taken from the Citadella in Victoria (the capital of Gozo).

The beaches are funny, pretty much all of them are rock beaches. I mentioned this in my Odessa post, but I did not realise this was the usual form that beaches take and how lucky we are in Australia. Well, maybe not lucky, you see, rock beaches have many awesome advantages. Firstly, without any sand/grit/dirt, the water is super clear, and secondly, you can happily walk/swim/lay on the beach without getting every crevice of your body filled with sand.

The Blue Lagoon on Comino. Great water and awesome caves. Baiky spent many a time here.

Drinking in Malta is also funny. You see, as much as responsible service of alcohol is shitty when all you want is another beer, I have since found that having a sober professional taking responsibility for the amount of alcohol ingested preferable to leaving me to my own devices. Similarly, it always sucks when a pub closes at 4am and all you want is another beer. However, I have now learnt that it can be really hard to keep track of time when inebriated in a nightclub and if it doesn't close how am I to know when to go home? 

It can also be hard not to wander off the massive cliffs of Malta. This was taken on Comino.

So, the party area of Malta, Paceville, is more disgusting than the Gold Coast, with people throwing up in the streets early in the evening. Very young people seem to hang around the area as ID checking is also optional. The sun came up before most nightclubs closed. I preferred the Sliema scene, but maybe I'm just getting old. Oh, and a pint costs about $3 (and can be found cheaper) and a bottle of vodka about $35.

I have decided not to incriminate myself here - instead here is a photo of a massive fountain at the entrance to Valletta.

Malta's history is really interesting due to its strategic location in the Mediterranean. It has been ruled by a crapload of different nations including Phoneticians, Romans, Normans, French, and the British. It was also ruled for two centuries by the Knights of St John after the Spanish didn't know what to do with it in the 16th century. It was involved in two great sieges, one in the 16th century when 40 000 Ottomans attacked 7000 Maltese and during WWII when they refused to surrender to the Axis despite been starved for two years. King George awarded the entire country the George Cross after the war.

The George Cross. They have two on display, the real one and a replica. One is in their war museum and the other in the Lascaris war rooms - the rooms from which the Allies rallied the defence of Malta and planned the invasion of Italy.

The final aspect of Malta is its rich religious heritage. Starting with having multiple prehistoric, megalithic temples (one of which is the oldest known underground temple c.3000 BC) of which I believe seven are world heritage listed. 

Inside the catacombs if St Paul in Mdina. St Paul was shipwrecked in Malta. The catacombs were originally developed as tombs but I think they were also used during in WWII as protection from the Axis bombing raids.

Also, as the Knights of St John enjoyed many years of prosperity and non-fighting (after scaring the rest of the world by defeating the Ottomans before upgrading the islands fortifications) they spent most if their wealth on churches and cathedrals. I believe I read or heard somewhere that Malta has the either the most churches capita or per country size. Either way just walking around any town you will be amazed by the impressive and opulent places of worship.

Inside St Johns Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Not only is it beautiful but it is home to many paintings by Caravaggio who fled to Malta after being exiled from Italy or Naples or something. He painted many works in Malta, but was imprisoned in Malta for been a bad person.

I have since left, although I wanted to stay until summer but could not find work, I can not wait to get back. Still so much to do and friends to catch up with. 

 Started with cannons and ending with knights - it was my kinda place. This is from the Armory in Valletta - thus far the best armory I have visited in my travels.

 Not quite a knight, but here I am preparing for a run around Comino. It was about 40 degrees - yay Malta.