Right now, most of you are probably saying, “Hmm, Malta. What country is that in?” Answer: It is its own country, a full-fledged member of the European Union located to the southwest of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. Due to various periods of colonial occupation, Malta has a very unique culture that combines influences from many others, such as Britain, Italy, and North Africa. The Maltese language is actually a mixture of words from English, Italian, and Arabic, with its own alphabet and set of rules.
Malta first appeared on our radar when we met Krista and Stefan, the Maltese pharmacy students studying in Montpellier for the semester. I met them the first weekend I was in Montpellier, and little did I know that in a few months we would be visiting them in their home country, something I had only seen on maps and in geography trivia games (Sporcle.com anyone?). Myself and 7 other friends from Montpellier hopped a plane, train, and bus (literally) from our town and arrived on “The Rock,” as the Maltese like to refer to it, greeted by our two friends who had returned before Christmas. They gave us an incredible grand tour of their country, showing us everything from the most popular sights to the most far-flung to the ones they had come to consider personal favorites.
Highlights of our stay on the Maltese Islands:
-Renting and getting to drive a car. This is one of the things I miss most about being in France this year, so this was a welcome change. Plus, having been a former British colony they drive on the left side of the road, something that proved to be much less difficult than I had imagined. What did prove difficult was navigating our way around the island, despite the fact that we have some natives on board. The icing on the cake was when we turned down what ended up being a one-way street and found ourselves face to face with a line of angry cars and a charter tour bus flashing his headlights. Oops.
-Going to Carnival on the smaller island of Gozo. In order to get an adequate picture of what the Carnival experience is, imagine the mass partying atmosphere of the Preakness infield, in a city, at night, where everyone dons a crazy costume, and dances around floats to blasting music. Throw in a few cans of Cisk, the amazing local beer, and you’ve got yourself Carnival, Maltese style.
-Seeing some of the oldest manmade structures in the world. Malta is home to a complex of stone buildings that have been excavated dating back to 5,000BC. Different rooms and cuts of the stone are still visible, with some blocks weighing several tons.
-Scaling a variety of mountains, cliffs, and rocky precipices. Malta, being a country set on a rock in the middle of the sea, is full of places to go climbing or even sliding down, as it were. Beautiful views of the landscape or the sea were to be had around every turn, and it never got old. We even got to climb down into the cave where legend holds that Odysseus met Calypso in The Odyssey.
-The food. One word: pastizzi. This delicacy is either peas or ricotta wrapped in flaky pasty dough and baked in the oven. Incredible. Krista and Stefan were also awesome enough to invite us to their homes during the course of the week to share their favorite Maltese dishes with us. Krista’s was baked pasta with tomato sauce and meat, and Stefan’s was baked rabbit. Excuse me while I go book a ticket back to Malta as my mouth waters.
-Everything is SO. CHEAP. Malta is on the Euro, but somehow their prices have remained incredibly low and are some of the lowest in the European Union. To give you an example, we went to the bakery/grocery store for one day’s lunch and dinner shopping and got the following for our group of 10: 30 pastizzi, 10 pigs-in-a-blanket-esque creations, a few other assorted baked goods to share, pasta, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, bread, 2 dozen beers, and other assorted beverages. Total per person: 7 euros.
-Spending time with the Maltese. The entire country of Malta is one of the most welcoming and friendly I’ve ever travelled to. Our friends basically dedicated their weeks to making sure we had an awesome time. Fast forward several skipped university classes, 5 trips to the airport for the different outbound flights we had, and coordinating a weeklong itinerary and they never once complained. Here’s a big thanks to Krista and Stefan for being the sweetest times this side of the Atlantic.
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