Malta Weekend

It is only a speck, a jumble of rock 120 miles south of Sicily. Its once lush flora has been decimated by centuries of harvesting to build ships and warm fires; its soil eroded by resulting lack of cover; its fauna, which included pigs and pigmie elephants has disappeared to a population that still shoots anything that moves; and its roads appear to date from the Romans. But from the private hot tub on the veranda of your room at the five star Xara Palace under a full moon, Malta is a rather romantic place to spend a birthday and wedding anniversary.

People have been honeymooning , pre and post honeymooning on Malta since 3500 BC. It was covered with trees, grasses, bushes and flowers then; Its Mediterranean forest full of an exotic range of animals, many known only to Malta. Today it is an admixture of beautiful Roman architecture, modest Turkish influences and a workable infrastructure imposed by the British all resting on piles of rock. Once important and influential because of its strategic position among the trade routes and then as a military outpost, it survived as a financial haven and is gaining wealth as a tourist center.

Admission to the EU with attendant availability of development dollars and an insightful approach to historically based renovation appear to be keeping its 400,000 population in comfortable style. Maltese are a rather lazy group by their own admission or maybe it is 6000 years of history that allows them feel that life and family will survive despite the winds of change. Early on they let the developers prevail with tearing down the old and building glass, steel and modernity. But they soon realized that this is incompatible with the feeling that tourists seek on a distant island. Today development within a building can make modern changes, but the exterior and overall historical feeling must be preserved As a consequence, it is a charming place to visit (for a few days). If your budget can take it, one of the 17 luxury suites at the five star Xara Palace in Mdina will add a great deal to those days.

Mdina, the quiet city, is a magificiently maintained walled city at the top of Malta. While lots of tourist spots abound within its walls, there are only a handful of cars allowed and only one hotel, the Xara, inside. Its narrow crooked streets were designed to slow down horsemen and even our experienced driver never exceeded five miles an hour inside the city. Admittance to the EU has meant that centuries of grime have been removed from its towering stones walls and buildings, the electric wires and telephone lines from its building exteriors and the stone block streets cleaned and repaired. It is the essence of spotlessness.

Residence at the hotel under our package gave us unlimited use of a car with a driver for our three days. That luxury is worth the price of admission. Finding your way on the island would be impossible with its one way streets, right hand driving, twisting narrow alleys,abundant pot-holes and myriad of villages. We were disappointed only in that the driver was not a better tourist guide. Despite his charm, driving skills and knowledge of the hot spots, he was terribly short on the details of Malta’s boundless historical sites.

On our second day we chartered a 35 foot catamaran ably captained and crewed by Trevor and Trudy. Cats sail very poorly into the wind and speed right along downwind. The wind blew against us for the ride up to Blue Lagoon so we motored as planned. It then died for about half the way home that evening. Consequently, it was not as exciting a sail as we might have liked but a wonderful day that left us sun burned and exhausted none the less. After a warm shower to scrape of all that encrusted salt, we dressed up for a scenic walk to dinner and encountered the only rain they’ve had in months—must have been about an inch in an hour. But alas, even a little drooped, we enjoyed an outstanding bottle of very limited supply Maltese wine, and a very fine meal.

If you ever decide that Malta is on your list, be aware that it can be financially dangerous. While prices are not high and certainly better than in Switzerland, the Malta Lire is equal to more than three U.S. dollars--so it’s a popper when you suddenly realize that the 20 you just tipped a nice driver is about a $65.

We truly enjoyed our long weekend, but probably find nothing extra to make us return. Despite their advertising to the contrary, Malta is not a water wonderland. The beaches are rocky, the diving bland mostly limited to wrecks and small caves, and the sailing subject to marginal wind availability. But if you want to just relax in luxury among wonderful architecture, amble among friendly, family oriented locals and have very nice food, pick a direct flight and three days and add Malta to your check list.