Malta was our final stop but it did not disappoint. Close to the northern coast of Africa, it has long been a strategic outpost, with the fascinating history you would expect to go along with that. A thousand years before Stonehenge, Malta had similar and spectacular temples of its own.
After a long night of sailing we arrived in Malta where the skipper discovered that the prop had been fouled, making our maneuvering into port rather interesting. Your bloggers had done a late watch through to 2:00 in the morning so were still groggy when we came on deck to help and immediately wondered on what planet we had landed.
In 1565 the Ottoman Empire tried to invade the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The Knights, with approximately 2,000 foot soldiers, and 400 Maltese men, women and children, withstood the siege and expelled the invaders. This victory became one of the most celebrated events in sixteenth-century Europe and contributed to the eventual erosion of the European perception of Ottoman invincibility. It also helped promote a further construction boom as gold rolled in from across Europe to finance the defense of the Island for the next wave of attack, which never came. The fortifications have been maintained however, even rebuilt after the aerial onslaught from Mussolini and Hitler in the 1940s. It makes for great touring!
Early in the Second World War the Italians
ran bombing campaigns against the British
in Malta. Alway closely associated with
Malta the Italians were known to drop more
bombs in the Med on the way home than
on the Maltese, but when the British used
Malta to disrupt the supply lines to Rommel,
the Germans took over. The population, with
no other defense, individually and by
neighborhood dug into the limestone.
It’s a great story. We visited a museum
celebrating it.
Shelter wardenDelivery room
Private room
At the Maritime Museum…
The harbor is incredible, but it doesn’t
really take up the entire island!
Malta was ruled by the British from Napoleonic
times until the 1960s so this museum certainly
had a British flavor. Hornblower fans, this cannon
may have been ugly but it was really cool if you are
interested in those times. It was easy enough to
imagine the work and terror of the gun crews in the
heat of battle and it was clear enough why
one would fear a loose cannon!
At the end of our first day we had a great meal
at a wonderful restaurant serving unique
local specialities and a good local wine.
That night was our last on the Hanse Sailor.
We and our luggage were taken to shore the
next morning where we found our hotel for
the last night in Malta (with an early cab ride
to the airport the subsequent morning).
Below, the Hanse Sailor at anchor, as seen
from our rather distant hotel room.
But before leaving we had a second
day to tour and one of the more interesting
visits was to the medieval hospital. The
Knights Hospitaller were many things but
they ran an amazing hospital for the time.
They were setting up for a reception when we
did our tour but this was the main hospital
area going back hundreds of years (with repairs
to the roof affected after German bombings). The
small arched doors to the right were washrooms.
Each bed had a private washroom, with plumbing,
vented from an up-wind courtyard where citrus
and other aromatic trees were maintained.
They are big on Maltese Crosses here.
The Malta Stock Exchange!
Below, the Italian Embassy.Maltese architecture is certainly dominated
by its dearth of trees and abundance of limestone
but these extended window bays are also very
common and generally very well maintained.Malta has two official languages, English
and Maltese. The latter is Arabic based,
although the written language uses Roman
characters. It seems odd that amid this
recognizably arabic speech one constantly
sees evidence that this is one of the most
devoutly Roman Catholic countries in Europe.
Near the end of our final day we happened
upon a top drawer wedding celebration,
amid this Brit-like ceremonial guard activity.
Next morning it was off to the airport for
a flight to London and on to Charlotte.
Good to be home.
