By Fjordman (text & photos)
Within the space of six months, I visited two archipelagos in the extreme south and extreme north of Europe: Malta and Svalbard. It was a fascinating set of contrasts. I spent a few days in Malta in late December 2016. This was my first visit there, but hopefully not the last.
Malta’s location in the southern Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base. Different peoples such as the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Moors, Normans, Sicilians, Spaniards, Knights of St. John, French and British have ruled the islands. The Maltese also showed bravery during the Second World War. The country became a republic in 1974. Malta joined the European Union (EU) in 2004 and adopted the euro currency in 2008.
Valletta is the nation’s capital and largest city. It is named after Jean de Valette (1495-1568), a French nobleman and Grand Master of the Order of Malta. He and his forces fought bravely against numerically superior Ottoman forces during the Great Siege of Malta in 1565.
Valletta’s impressive fortifications reminded me of another walled southern European city, the medieval Old Town on the Greek island of Rhodes. The fortifications in Valletta and the City of Rhodes were built by the Catholic order the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John to protect the islands against Islamic raids. However, if you visit the Old Town of Rhodes, you will see several mosques dating back to Ottoman times. On Rhodes, Christians fought bravely against the Turks, and lost. On Malta, Christians fought bravely against the Turks, and won.








