Jamie Fehr

Normally I don’t write about a whole country at once but I really didn’t have that much time to get to know Malta and honestly it’s not that big, the city buses are the same as the intercity buses! The only type of transport that could be considered hard to do in that country is crossing the channel to the island of Gozo.

Some interesting facts about Malta are: It’s population is about 400,000, it’s national language is Maltese and for currency they have the Maltese Pound, worth four Canadian Dollars, and I am also told that people on the island of Gozo don’t really like the people on the island of Malta. I am not sure why. That’s probably why there is no real bridge through the short channel between the two islands but only a ferry.

As for what I saw in Malta, the list will be very short.

St. Pauls Bay

For a long time believed to be the actual landing point of the Apostle Paul in the country of Malta but that conception has since been proven to be false. Never the less it does have some great beach and a lot of wind surfers. Rock on.

The Eerily Quiet M’dina

A very normal fortified city by any stretch, it was just weird how empty it was while I was there. There was no one and almost no one spoke the whole time I spent wandering its twisty, windy, ancient streets. It’s a very photogenic place and I did enjoy hanging out there, it was just shockingly quiet.

The Red Castle

It has a real name but I have long since forgot it. All the road signs leading up to it say “Red Castle” anyway. It’s just a little ways up the hill from St. Pauls Bay and once served a look out point for the french army that was situated there.

It was closed for renovations while I was there but somehow my friend Brandon talked the cleaning lady into letting us in. It was really cool, we got to climb right to the top of one of the loneliest lookouts I have seen in my life. The view was absolutely spectacular.

Crafts Village

Once an old set of army barracks now turned tourist money trap. A lot of Malta tours that you’ll find will take you through the crafts village, and they have some interesting silver work and glass blowing there, it’s just that I don’t buy stuff like that, so it really seemed like a waste to go.

When I first got to the island of Malta I really did feel like I was getting this strange island, not so welcome vibe from them, but after a few days I really did feel at home. It’s a very unique, small, independent country and I think that’s the way the like it.