In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, on the crossroads of many cultures since 6000 BC lies Malta. Hence, an island of immense history.

As a tourist, it’s an island to be avoided in its peak tourist months, the streets are overly packed. One of my many Whinging Pome Random Rules (322) is, "on visiting a new city  for the first time, check if you know anybody from the place." In this case, it's a yes; Delores, a whacky fun interior designer who shows us her island.

Valletta, the capital of Malta is about a square mile in size. In whatever direction you walk it’s either up, down or the ridges with steepish slopes on each side. The good news is when the Knights of Malta built it, they realized that all steps have to be about 4 inches high. The reason according to the myth is that when they were fully armoured up a knight could not manage deep steps, so most locations have small steps or slopes. We do a nighttime walk in an area they call the three cities. In reality, these are three peninsulas across the water from Valletta. Everything is compact, as the island of Malta is less than 316 sq miles. Malta is the southernmost capital of Europe, and they are a proud member of the EU. They are however quite liberal with issuing passports to foreigners, depending on their financial status, against the directive of the EU.

The water taxi picks us up at Valletta, it consists of a man in a small gondola-type boat with an outboard engine at one end. We tour three yacht basins, but you can take boats like a taxi from A to B. Malta sits in the middle of the Mediterranean so no wonder it has so many yachts, and sadly too many cruise ships visiting.

We avoid the locally renowned rabbit stew and fish pie. The local wine is reasonably priced, in the main it is drinkable plonk.

The island fortifications are so impressive. Fort Elmo is a gold mine of history. Malta tracks its history back to 8000  years with some colourful events in the last 2000 years. Without understanding some of the basics of Malta, the average tourist is missing out on its treasures. So not being average, The Whinging Pome wants to really get to the detail of the history. We go and see the 40-minute film History of Malta presentation near the fort entrance and the famous underground hospital.

Eight nations have controlled Malta, including Arabs, Greeks, Romans, English and even the French, the latter only for two years.

Malta held out against one of the largest bombardments/sieges by Italian / German forces during WW2. The people of Malta were awarded the British George Cross for bravery and sacrifice. As a Taphophile, Malta will occupy you for a couple of days. There are many military cemeteries and memorials.

The next day we hit the road to Rabat and Medina. This is called the silent city. Walking about you see such a variety of architecture and history spanning centuries. Little alleyways with not a car in sight. Watch out for the horses and carriages in  the tight alleyways.

We travel northwest and see the amazing coastline and villages, all with their dominating churches and impressive architecture. Then northeast to St. Paul’s Bay. Malta is double the size of Jersey and six times smaller than Mauritius. Having driven the coast road in all three, you can drive the coast of Malta in an hour. St. Paul arrived in Malta in 60 AD having been shipwrecked on the east side of Malta, on an island now named after him. Malta became a Christian stronghold, it had been a Muslim stronghold at one time.  

So many different nationalities and religious groups have attacked and in some cases occupied the island. The famous Knights decided to have a coastal early warning system. So towers were built all around the coast as signal posts to alert invaders. Some towers were extended and became castles.

Elizabeth, prior to being crowned Queen lived with her new husband Prince Phillip for three years in Malta and always called it their home.

My parents used to go regularly to Malta in 1980/90s on holiday so I always thought it was a place for old folk to go. Perhaps I’m ageing, can’t wait to revisit.