In the beginning of November, I visited Malta with three wonderful boys. The trip came pretty much unplanned, but it was great and too short. Malta is an European island country. It lies south of Italy and is very small. Do you know Croatian island Pag where I spend my summer holidays every year? It’s the same size as Pag, but is much more populated and has a very rich history. Malta was under French and British reign and the latter had a great influence on the current Maltese life. Everybody speaks English, cars drive on the left side of the road, there are red telephone boxes and red post boxes everywhere, and black and white striped lights at the pedestrian crossing. All those things reminded me a lot of London.
We spent our first two days in Valletta, the capital of Malta. Unfortunately, the weather was quite bad. It was raining a lot and on the second day the wind was so strong that the waves were 10 meters high when they hit the shore. But that didn’t stop us from discovering the city. We fell in love in one bar and restaurant on the main street with Jean Parisot de Valette statue. We were even playing Bingo there one night, which was was great fun.
Allow me to introduce you to the man after whom the Maltese capital got its name after. Jean Parisot de Valette was a French nobleman and 49th Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He was also one of the Knights Hospitaller. They were the medieval Catholic military order that found a new home in Malta after they were banned from Jerusalem. They helped the poor and the sick and defended Malta against the Barbary pirates and Turks, but they ended their 300-years era when fearless Napoleon came to their doorstep. Nevertheless, Malta is very proud of its knights and it wouldn’t be what it is today without the Knights of Malta.
