Half the towns here have two names
Birgu or Vittoriosa, Rabat or Victoria. People say one name, the maps and the buses use the other.
25 Jun 20262 minRead Half the towns here have two names
Malta Central Magazine
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Why every building in Malta is the same colour
Globigerina limestone comes out of the ground soft, hardens in the air and weathers from white to honey to grey.
24 Jun 20262 minRead Why every building in Malta is the same colour -
Village churches shut at midday
Open early, locked from about noon to four, open again for the evening Mass. The two that charge for entry are the…
23 Jun 20262 minRead Village churches shut at midday -
Tarxien sits at the end of an ordinary street
Five thousand years old, four linked temples, and houses on three sides. The village grew around it after 1913.
22 Jun 20262 minRead Tarxien sits at the end of an ordinary street -
The war rooms are cut into the rock under Valletta
The air defence of Malta was run from these tunnels, and so was the landing on Sicily in 1943.
21 Jun 20262 minRead The war rooms are cut into the rock under Valletta -
The Cittadella is the whole of Gozo in one view
A walled town on a hill, a twenty minute circuit of the ramparts, and the reason Gozitans slept inside the walls for…
20 Jun 20262 minRead The Cittadella is the whole of Gozo in one view -
Valletta was built on an empty ridge in fifteen years
Drawn on paper in 1566 and built on bare rock, with a grid that ignores the hill and turns three streets into…
19 Jun 20262 minRead Valletta was built on an empty ridge in fifteen years -
The gun fires at noon and you can watch for free
The Saluting Battery still fires at midday and at four. From the gardens above it costs nothing.
18 Jun 20262 minRead The gun fires at noon and you can watch for free -
The four winds, and what each one does to your day
Majjistral, grigal, xlokk and tramuntana. Which coast to swim on, and which wind stops the ferries.
17 Jun 20262 minRead The four winds, and what each one does to your day -
How much to tip in Malta
About ten per cent in a restaurant, coins in a bar, a rounded up fare in a taxi. Check the bill for…
16 Jun 20262 minRead How much to tip in Malta -
What to expect at a Maltese beach
Twenty-three of the sixty-nine bays on this site have sand. Thirty-one have no toilets, no food and no parking at all.
15 Jun 20262 minRead What to expect at a Maltese beach -
Kapunata is not ratatouille
Aubergine, capers, olives and vinegar, eaten cold with bread. The vinegar separates it from the French dish.
14 Jun 20262 minRead Kapunata is not ratatouille