Malta

For the first few hours we had a decent wind behind us as we followed Hephaistos out of Lampedusa towards the island of Malta. Later we resorted to motor-sailing, eventually arriving in Grand Harbour, Valetta at 9.30 am. And grand it certainly is, with great fortress walls designed to withstand the relentless assaults the island has endured for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The towers and domes of old churches rose above the other buildings, the whole city crafted from soft golden sandstone that glowed in the morning light, contrasting with the vivid blue of the deep harbour waters. The practicalities were not so wonderful, with a very high Customs Dock presenting a challenge for small craft, followed by an unproductive search for somewhere to park. In the end, we left the harbour and sailed around to St Julian’s Bay near the tourist hub of Sliema, where we dropped the anchor and finally had a good sleep. This turned out to be a very pleasant place to stay for a couple of days, enjoying the calm, clear water and the glorious sunshine which seems to be standard for this time of year.

Ashore the island has a welcome air of prosperity and it is also a great place to buy boat stuff and services. There are lots of chandlers, each offering a slightly different range of equipment at pretty reasonable prices. The technician pronounced a death sentence on our stove, but fortunately we were offered a good deal on an excellent replacement, which is due for installation today. Bonus: this one has a grill, so the cravings for cheese on toast are soon to be satisfied! We also had a team of very competent guys from Medcomms in to fix up our inadequately performing VHF/ AIS. They replaced a faulty cable and voila! High quality communications restored.

We’ve now moved over to Msida Marina, next to a huge old replica, Black Pearl, which seems to be used mainly for pirate parties, and overlooked by the various embassy buildings. A bonus here was that a guy from the Australian Consulate noticed our flag and came down to invite us to an Anzac Day reception.

Malta is just about dead centre of the Mediterranean, so as you might imagine, it is another place with a long history of conflict. Most famous have been the two ‘Great Sieges’ – the first where the Knights of St John defended the island from the Turks in 1565, and the second where the Maltese withstood a Nazi blockade and relentless bombing for almost two years in 1941-2. The whole nation was awarded the George Cross for bravery. Malta also has one of the oldest and best preserved Neolithic sites -  a huge underground necropolis and a mysterious trefoil-shaped temple, dating from about 3600BC. More historical detail in the next blog.

We had been told not to expect anything special in terms of food in Malta, and it’s true that lumpy English takeaway is endemic, but there have also been some real treats, such as Legligin, a small family restaurant in an atmospheric cellar where we had a great tasting plate of typical Maltese foods served tapas-style; in Sliema we found and excellent cheap Turkish restaurant, and Terry has managed to find some decent meat pies at last too.

Malta is yet another destination that we hadn’t really planned on, but it’s turned out to be lovely – perfect weather, glorious clear blue water, fascinating history and pleasant, obliging people (who speak English as well as the strange Malti language that sounds like Arabic spoken to the tune of Italian).