Summer 2019 - Episode 15 - 4th day - Malta - Mdina - Valletta

Hello, good evening, and welcome to this, one might almost say, valedictory final episode of An English Fool Abroad with his Sketchbook, Summer 2019 series. Yes, dearly beloved, I am here safely back home in the bosom of my family (a member of which who shall be nameless has just observed – Yes, in the bosom of your family and making a tit of yourself. Charming.) The reason why I didn’t post yesterday – well, I will come to that in the fullness of time.

So, then, Saturday. I’d nearly taken a bus to Mdina once I got back from Gozo on Friday, but I’m glad that I decided not to. There just wouldn’t have been enough time left on Friday to get the full benefit of the place. It’s pretty stunning and unmistakeable from a couple of miles away, a sandstone yellow walled city on a hill dominating the surrounding countryside. Basically, in the 16^th century, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem – otherwise known as the Hospitallers – who were certainly a bit more hospitable than the Templars – were kicked out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent. He allowed them to leave Rhodes in peace, and probably regretted it a few years later when he decided to invade Malta and found the Hospitallers well entrenched there. They had made Mdina their capital, and through a mixture of obdurate defence, brave fighting, and barefaced lies they defended Malta and Mdina successfully against the Ottomans in the first great siege of Malta. Their Grand Master of the time, a certain Jean de Valette, buckled on his armour at the ripe old age of 70 to lead his troops, and he was recognised by having his name given to the new capital, Valletta (double l because it’s the Italianised version of his name).

Now, going back to my second trip to Greece, in 1984 I stayed a few days on Rhodes, and I was very much taken with Rhodes Old Town, which still looks much as it did when the Hospitallers were based there. So it was hardly surprising that my overwhelming impression of the old town within Mdina’s old defensive walls was that it reminded me very much of Rhodes Old Town. The colours of the buildings are an overwhelming sandy yellow which I find most appealing. Once I found a convenient corner in the shade I sat down and started sketching the picture of the church tower, looking down the street, which you can see at the bottom of the page. It was most pleasant. The only cars allowed in old Mdina belong to the residents, and most of the traffic which passed was horse drawn taxis. And, for the first and only time this trip, I had passers by stopping to gawp at me drawings. If I said that praise from strangers means nothing to me, then it would be an utter lie. 

In some ways, the visit to Mdina helped me to crystallize my thoughts about this trip as compared to my visits to Ieper, Prague, Berlin, Budapest, Kaunas, Madrid, Amsterdam and Stockholm in previous sketchpeditions. In those trips, there were certain linking experiences – all of them involved quite a bit of walking through streets of the one city or town, visiting museums and galleries, and joyriding on trams, metros and trains. 
Now, okay, I’ve walked a lot, and I have visited the one museum in Malta. However in many ways this trip reminded me a bit more of the three solo trips I made in 1982-4. In some ways Malta is rather reminiscent of the Greek islands I visited. The heat has been similar, and the never being far away from the sea. In another way as well, when I was backpacking around the Aegean, whenever the fancy took me I’d just hop off on another boat and go to check out another island. Well, I did just that with Gozo, and I’ve been doing that with other towns, like Mdina and Mosta. Mind you, in one way it’s been completely different. In Greece, I was just one of thousands of 20 somethings from all over Europe and the States, whereas now I’m just like an observer of them. St. Paul’s Bay is crowded with thousands of teens and 20 somethings just doing what I was doing back then, but I’ve just no wish to be part of it any more. Been there. Done that (well, some of it.)

Enough of such things. I’ll be honest, I just lazed around the apartment after I’d got back from Mdina until quite a long time after the sun had gone down. The problem which I had to deal with was this. St. Paul’s Bay is about ¾ of an hour away from Malta International Airport. My flight was at 7am this morning. I don’t get nervous about the actual flying part of flying. But I do get nervous about using airports. I don’t know why, but I always have this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that something is going to go wrong in the airport, and I’m not going to get home. So, although I always check in online at least a day before I fly, I have a thing about being at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight is due to leave. The thing is, though, you won’t find a bus to the Airport from St. Paul’s Bay at 4am on a Sunday morning. The latest I could find left at about 1:30 am this morning. Yes, okay, I could have booked a taxi to pick me up at that time. However, there were two problems with this. Firstly, the worry over what I would do if it didn’t turn up, and secondly the likelihood that I would oversleep. Oh, and the cost as well. Having already bought my bus pass, the airport trip on the night bus would cost precisely nowt.

Well, let me tell you this now. I have been as bored as I was in the Departure Lounge a few times before – I remember trying to read Tristram Shandy when I was at University, for example – but not many. The problem was that I was too tired to read, but too uncomfortable to sleep. But I will say this much for Ryanair today. We were efficiently assembled by the gate at 5:50, and then effectively boarded, so much so that we did actually leave on time. Not really happened with me before on Ryanair. We landed in Cardiff half an hour ahead of schedule – no idea whether the captain was on a promise or what, but better that than half an hour late, which is my more usual experience with Ryanair. 

So that’s it for Malta. Overall I really enjoyed my visit, and think I saw enough of Malta to have gained the impression that while it reminded me of quite a few places I’ve been, it was also different to all of them. In some ways it’s like Spain, in others it’s like Greek islands I’ve been to, and in other ways it’s actually quaintly British. If you’ve visited any of the more popular Spanish costa resorts, you’ll have seen bars being run by ex-pats which proudly trumpet themselves as a British bar, and you’ll maybe feel like me that somehow it doesn’t come across as quite genuine – maybe through trying too hard. Well, places like this on Malta somehow just didn’t seem quite so out of place. It somehow seemed appropriate that every place I visited – even Mdina, had eateries where fish and chips were on the menu. So I can totally understand why so many Brits holiday on Malta. It’s different enough that you feel like you’ve been away, and yet similar enough to be comforting and reassuring. 

So let me bring this to an end by thanking once again all my family who contributed to the success of this sketchpedition, through giving me it as a much valued birthday present, through taking me to the airport and just as importantly bringing me back, and for patiently putting up with my panicky phone calls when I couldn’t find the flat. Thank you all so much – and thank you for taking the time and trouble to read this nonsense. See you again.