(Excerpt from Patreon)

Malta: The dusty Mediterranean rock where east meets west, and north meets south. Malta has been inhabited since approximately the year 5900 BCE, and during that time has been colonized by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Knights of St. John, French, and most recently the British (among a handful of others). The capital city of Valetta holds one of the most lavishly gilded cathedrals, the St. John’s Co-Cathedral, fit with floor to ceiling gold, marble inlay mosaic tile flooring and tombs, and several works by Caravaggio.*

Malta is made up of three islands: Malta, Gozo, and Comino - Malta being the largest of the three at 122 square miles. The climate is hot and humid, with a visually mishmashed landscape of Italian trees and shrubs with a Greco-Eastern vibe of cement block buildings to keep in the cool. Each stone building is sun-bleached within an inch of its life, and everyone’s laundry is left to dry on lines hung out of windows and terrace’s.

Having been the island of many nationalities over the years, it is no surprise that Malta can be a wonderfully confusing place to be, sometimes you feel like you are in Italy, others a British colony much like the Caribbean islands, and others the Middle Eastern dessert. The language, cuisine, and visage of the population reflect this wholeheartedly - consisting of Brits, Italians, Turkish, and generations old Maltese people. They have their own Maltese dialect, which is nothing like anything I’ve ever heard before in my life (Think Italian mixed with Arabic), but also speak English and Italian regularly. Their specialties in cuisine include fresh seafood stews, and rabbit served every which way you can imagine. The spices are a lovely “best hits” edition of both Italian cuisine and the more colorful yellows and reds that can be found but a few miles east or south.

Malta is a fabulously confusing combination of things which reminds the visitor of the truly unique impact of many cultures in one place over time, and providing a dazzling location for a quiet catamaran charter or successful tanning season for anyone interested in going off the beaten path.

*The painter stopped in Malta after fleeing Rome (something to do with a drunken fight resulting in a death) to work on several pieces for the cathedral over a period of 15 months, in which time he too became indoctrinated into the knights of St. John. It was mere days after this achievement had been made before one of the other knights was found dead (another drunken fight) and Caravaggio was on the lamb once again. After this period is when he is assumed to have taken ill and died poor on the road, which many believed was the case after he left Rome. Who knew?