Discover Malta's historic landmarks: walking tour
Along Malta’s coasts sit historic landmarks from the 1500s that shaped the Europe of today. Discover the island’s forts, winding streets, and majestic cliffs overlooking the ocean.
Throughout the novel, we read about the caves and tunnels built throughout Malta’s rocky ground. These strong stones have built up the homes across the island we see today.
I recently joined a new company - it’s a bit of an unusual setup in that the founders of the company are all Maltese, but all of us work remotely from across the world. A few weeks after joining, I was scheduled to visit Malta and meet with a small group of colleagues. It was a business trip so I knew my time to be physically present and engaged with the local culture would be reasonably limited but I wanted to get a sense for this Island, that a few weeks back, I would fail at placing it on a map. In preparation for my trip, I did some research and found a handful of books that take place on Malta.
I settled on reading The Sword and the Scimitar by David Ball as I found the perspective of following siblings around this island to be charming. It took a little time to get into the novel and some of the sexually charged scenes made me question if they were there for a “sex sells” kind of placement, or perhaps they were a way of highlighting some of the more unsavory aspects of life during the 1500s. Ultimately, I found the stories woven throughout this book to be incredibly illuminating and helped me understand some of the geographical outline of the island as it sits today. At the end of the novel, a significant portion is dedicated to recounting the Great Siege of Malta of 1565, something my history classes growing up seemed to have omitted. Incredibly, much of the sites mentioned during the novel have been transformed into beautiful museums that we can visit today.
Where Malta’s natural cliffs end, walls as barriers from the ocean begin.
Heated Battlegrounds
1) 9 a.m. de Valette’s Valletta
Malta has experienced waves of control from outside forces from Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John, French, and British, before gaining independence in 1964. These waves of dominance in the island can be seen throughout the island’s food, language, and names, just to name a few. Valletta is no exception. During the time of the Knights of St. John, Valletta was known as Sceberras. After the Great Siege of 1565, Sceberras was named Valletta, after the Kights of St. John’s Grand Master, Jean Parisot de Valette’s guidance in victory.
Fort St. Elmo was the first place of great battle during the Siege, and lucky for us, its remains have been rebuilt to house the National War Museum. There, you can learn about Malta’s history from prehistoric times through to today.
Once you’ve explored Fort. St. Elmo, hop in a ride share or cab (Bolt or Uber work great) and head over to Fort St. Michael at the base of Senglea.
Discover Malta’s historic landmarks
2) 12 p.m. Fortifications and bakery bites
Although Fort St. Elmo was perhaps the most important fortification of the time, Forts St. Michael and St. Angelo play a much larger picture of our guide’s lives throughout the novel. Malta, similarly to much of Europe, has a strong bread-making tradition. One of Malta’s specialties, the pastizz, comes in many flavors, including one which nods to it's former British colonial days as it includes mushy peas for a filling. Other flavors include chicken, traditional Maltese cheese, and ricotta.
Grab your pastizz in hand as you, cross through the Fort. St. Michael and walk down the side facing the French Creek with its beautiful waterfront views. Then, head back into the landward side via narrow streets lined with beautifully aging stone homes.
The Main Attraction
3) 1 p.m. Birgu’s battlegrounds
In reading The Sword and the Scimitar, Birgu is where we see the streets come alive with the details of daily life. As you head to Birgu from Senglea, stop by the Santa Margherita Church just outside of the Birgu city walls and imagine yourself setting up camp there like the Ottoman soldiers once did. Continue on into Birgu and take in one of the oldest parishes on Malta: St. Lawrence Church. Although it was built a few decades after the Great Siege, this very site was used as a cemetery during the battle.
Charge on towards the Order’s headquarters of Fort St. Angelo, right at the tip of Birgu. Much like Fort St. Elmo, it has been turned into a well maintained museum where you can explore Malta’s history. On your way back to Birgu’s center, pass through the Auberges of England, Auverge and Provence, France, Castile, and Portugal to see where the Order’s knights would rest among their respective countrymen. At this point, you can continue on eastward toward Gallows Point and Salvador Heights, call it a day and grab a great glass of wine at Del Borgo (highly recommended by one of my most food-discerning Maltese colleagues), or “commute” to where Maria called home may times - M’kor Hakhayyim.
Malta’s bedrock is perfect for cave formations like the cave at M’kor Hakhayyim where Maria and her extended family lived.
From The city to Nature
4) 3 p.m. Hiding to thrive
Maria had in essence, two homes; the one in Birgu with her blood family, and the one in M’kor Hakhayyim. I find it challenging to truly understand places and distances while reading a book. After mapping out her walk back home, it reminded me of the joke about our grandparents generation telling us that our lives are so easy because we didn’t have to walk 5 miles up a hill both ways just to go to school. Maria’s walk was a smidge longer, clocking in at 6.2 miles (10km). It’s around a 2 hour walk so be prepared for a bit of an adventure. You’ll finish the day outside of a small city called Marsaxlokk where you have a few options for exceptional traditional Maltese seafood dishes, which were again, highly recommended by my Maltese colleague.
Headed to Malta? Read on …
