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| Valletta with traditional Maltese boat |
Malta
August 2014
August 2014
A marvelous month has gone by since we got to Malta, and I do not know where to begin telling you what we have been doing. Not because we have done so many things but because we have been so comfortable living in this perfect little country.
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| Arrival to Malta, Valletta |
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| Tug in the Grand Harbour |
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| Roofs of Valletta |
The country consists of three islands, two of which are inhabited, with a population less than four hundred thousand people. The islands sit in an area 25 miles by 10 miles in the middle of the Sicilian straight about 50 miles from Sicily. Prehistoric ruins are scattered over the islands but the primary settlers of the islands were Phoenecians, and their language forms the basis for the Maltese language. All the major Mediterranean civilisations lived and died here, but it is owing to the Order of St. John's Hospitallers that Malta has its defining character. Those crusading monks were driven from their stronghold in Rhodes by Suleiman the Great and were granted the islands by the pope in 1530. They became the Knights of Malta and harried Ottoman shipping so effectively that the Sultan again vowed to drive the knights from their stronghold. The year was 1565 and Suleiman sent a force of 40,000 men to rub out the 8,500 men, 6,000 of whom were miltia, who were defending Malta. Against great odds and thanks to
