Dateline France, 9 January 1990 Report 10--Christmas in Malta Bonne Annee! This report is dedicated to our vacation on the island of Malta. If not for the recent summit, most of you would probably place Malta off the coast of Spain, or maybe somewhere in the Atlantic. For those of you who didn't get out a map during the Bush-Gorbachev meeting: If you think of Italy as a boot kicking the football Sicily, then Malta might be the tee for the football. The next closest country after Italy is Tunisia. The country of Malta is composed of three populated islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino, plus several unpopulated islets and big rocks. (Gozo is where the nymph Calypso is said to have kept Ulysses enthralled for seven years.) We made out much better on the weather than the superpowers. Most of the week we were there it was sunny and the highs were around 65-68 degrees. We got one day of wind and rain. Apart from the summit, you might only know Malta if you are familiar with the "thinking" books of de Bono, or know the naval history of WWII or the Ottoman empire. The countryside of Malta is rocky, with thin ground cover and scrubby trees, except where it is under cultivation. Lots of walls from the native sandstone divide up the farm plots, which are often terraced on the hillier parts of the island. (Well, the rock is the color of sandstone, but it was often referred to as limestone in exhibits and guidebooks.) Air Malta is nothing to write home about, so I won't. Our hotel was on the old side (but being renovated). We did have a lot of room in our apartment: two large bedrooms, a kitchen-dining room and a large foyer. Also, there were balconies on two sides. It was in Sliema, the largest city of Malta, and it was not hard to get to Valetta, the capital, by bus. From Valletta, you can catch buses to most of the rest of the island. I think the average bus is 25 years old, and uses the shock absorbers taken off its 1925 predecessor. Most of the bus drivers shortchanged us, or charged the right amount and gave us tickets for a lower amount. But the difference was usually 4 cents Maltese (1 Maltese pound = $3 US), and was hardly worth arguing about. Malta has been described as 125% Catholic, with as many churches as days of the year. Many of the buses had little shrines over the driver or above the front window. Kaye's favorite honored Mary, St. Christopher, Rambo and Road Runner. We found the prices for food and beverages much lower than in France (although we met someone from Australia who was complaining about high prices for produce in the market). The British taught the Maltese to make beer, they learned to make wine from the Italians, hence both beverages are quite drinkable. (Imagine if it had been the other way around.) The food had a little too much English influence, I think--I would have liked it spicier. The fish was good, as you would expect, as were some of the Italian dishes. Also, eggs are a very frequent ingredient, showing up in hamburgers and on top of pizza. A bit of history now. Malta was originally part of a ridge that stretched from Italy to North Africa, but was isolated by water long ago. There were species of animals, such as pygmy elephants, that evolved there independently. (Many complete skeletons were found in a large cave on the island, but we didn't get to visit it.) Malta had two prehistorical periods, both initiated by settlers from Sicily and the "heel: of Italy. The first was a neolithic civilization that went from approximately 5000 BC to 2500 BC. These peope built megalithic temples above ground (we saw the ones built at Tarxien between 3300BC and 2500BC) and carved temples out of the living rock underground (such as the Hypogeum, around 3300BC). Some people have pointed to this civilization as inspiring the megalithic structures in France and England, citing a commonality known as the "megalithic yard". (I never got the details on this.) This civilization disappeared, but it is not known whether it was from pestilence, famine, natural disaster or displacement by the next group. A new group, distinguishable by their pottery and building style, inhabited the island around 2500BC, and were invaded by yet other groups around 1200BC. The new group was a bronze/iron age civilization, and used the Tarxien temples as a crematorium and cemetary from 2500BC-1500BC. Recorded history started for Malta with the arrival of the Phoenicians around 750BC. This is also start of the Maltese language, which is the only Semitic language using just a Roman alphabet. [This original language is referred to as "Malti", I think. Modern Maltese retains a Semitic grammar, but got loan words and its current pronunciation from Arabic. There also seems to be a fair amount of Italian mixed in, and some French and English.] Around 550BC, Carthage, which was one of Phoenicia's colony's in what is now Tunisia, got uppity and asserted its independent rule over that part of the Mediterranean, including Malta. (This is called the Punic period in Malta's history.) During Carthagian rule, there was trade with Greeks on Sicily, and probably Greeks living on Malta. The equivalent of the Rosetta Stone for Phoenician--a stone inscribed in both Phoenician and Greek, was found on Malta. There was also trade with Etruscans from further up Italy. Malta has had trouble with pirates throughout its history, with whole villages being carried away for slaves in the past. Malta was won by the Romans in their wars with Carthage, and it became a well-regarded part of the Roman empire from 218BC to 535AD. Roman garrisons and fleets gave it more protection from pirates, too. When the Holy Roman Empire was divided into western and eastern halves in 535, Malta can under the control of Byzantium. During Byzantine rule, the islands were harassed by the Vandals and Visigoths. Then, in 870, Malta fell into Arab hands. Arab rule brought a period of relative peace and freedom from pirates, but with some supression of Chistianity. There is very little to see from Arab times today. Normans from the north of Italy conquered the island once in 1090, but they came again to assume control in 1127. It was placed under the Sicilian crown, and was governed, or, more accurately, "owned" by a series of feudal lords. It was bought and sold as an investment, for the revenue one might extract from it. It had Norman rulers from Germany (1194), France (1268), and Spain (1283), among other places. Since these rulers were seldom in residence, pirate pickin's picked up during this time. The Maltese wanted to come directly under the Sicilian crown, so in 1429 they arranged to buy their country on installments from the current lord. (Betcha didn't know you can get countries on credit.) Also in 1429, they had to deal with an attack by the Moors. Being part of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies didn't stop the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V from handing over the island to the Knights of St. John (who we now know as the Knights of Malta, but more on them later). The knights brought a period of prosperity to Malta, but thinks gradually got a little tawdry as knighthood became more dueling and having a good time than a holy calling. With a little help from the inside, Napoleon took over Malta in 1789, and was actually on the island for six days. (But believe it or not, there is only one "Napoleon slept here" sign in the whole country. If it had been Grenoble, he would have hit twelve hotels and 25 restaurants.) The French only stayed for a summer, which is long enough to cart many of the treasures of the Knights and the Catholic Church off to the Louvre, or to be sold to pay the troops in Egypt. At the invitation of the Maltese, the British took over the island in the same year. Malta was under British colonial administration, until 1921 when they tried self government. It switched back to colonial government after problems in 1931. (One of the major points of political disagreement during the beginning of this century was whether the official language should be Italian, the language of learning and culture during the rule of the Knights, or English, the language of the colonial administration.) After WWII, Malta again had self rule within the commonwealth, and gained its independence in 1964. In 1979 the last British military presence left the island. The British influence means cars drive on the left, unless they want to drive in the middle or on the right. Big dose of history, huh? Back to us. Friday, our first full day, we went into Valetta to see "The Malta Experience," a slide and sound show covering history, geography and the current economy (tourists, ship repair and blue jeans). Each chair had a headset, and a selector for six different languages. However, only on the English channel did you get to hear "The Maltese Calypso", which Sarah sung for the rest of the trip. ("Don't worry lady, we got it made--on Malta everybody drive in the shade.") From there we went to the War Museum The museum documents the defense of Malta during WWII. Malta was in an excellent place for air and naval raids on convoys passing between Axis ports and ports in Africa. Hence, the airfields, harbors and elsewhere were subject to intense aerial attack from the Italians for almost three years. Some months saw air raid alerts in the 100s. Malta can easily claim the title of "most bombed" Allied area, in terms of tons/person. It was here we learned that Malta has its own specific military camouflage: paint your jeep or tank to look like a rock wall. We also saw a restored Italian "E-boat": a small, fast, 1-person motor boat that was filled with explosives and driven into a ship (the pilot abandoning ship at the last minute and climbing on a detachable raft to avoid the stronger shock waves in the water. An raid with E-boats and manned torpedos (the Italian navy was not someplace to build a career) was launched against Grand Harbour by the city of Valetta during the war. One of the manned torpedos was to be run up against an anti-submarine net strung under a bridge, making a hole for the E-boats to come in and attack the British fleet at anchor. A couple problems. One, the Maltese had radar, unbeknownst to the Italians, and knew something was on the way. Second, one of the E-boat pilots heard an explosion which he mistook for the torpedo blowing a hole in the net. When he got to the bridge, he found no hole, so he set a timer on his boat and got out of there. However, the exploding E-boat was so powerful that it brought down the bridge, completely blocking that entrance. After that, shore fire picked off the rest of the E-boats, except one that was beached (and is now in the museum). A daring attack and a valiant defense. Dinner that night was nothing exceptional, except for trying Kinnie, a local soft drink that has a bitter-sweet flavor, reminiscent of the spices used in sweet vermouth. On Saturday we went to see the Hypogeum, a prehistoric temple/crypt carved into the ground. It was discovered around 1910 when workmen digging a cistern for a house broke through into it. However, they didn't report their discovery until the cistern was finished, rightly assuming that the historical importance of the site might interfere with their digging. I thought the entrance would be out in the country somewhere, but it is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood, a few miles from Valetta. This was all carved without the use of metal implements. There are three levels to the temple, the lowest being the most recent and having the most sophisticate carving--imitating architectural features of above- ground temples. The guards neglected to tell us that the temple is closed every 45 minutes for 45 minutes, to try to keep light and moisture levels down. We wondered what all the ringing bells were. Fortunately, someone told us what was up, and we managed to climb up to the first level before all the lights went off. The family is also grateful to Kaye for carrying a small penlight in her purse, that got us the rest of the way out. When we arrived at the top, another person thought there was still another family down there. So the guards handed me a flashlight and asked me to take a look. Nobody there, but I took the opportunity to carve my... just kidding. After lunch at a local restaurant, the Primavera, we went to see the Tarxien temples. These are a series of temples bullt by the first prehistorical civilization that were used as a cemetary by the second civilization. Hence, it was a rich source of artifacts of both peoples. The temples were built one after the other, sometimes knocking out walls of earlier temples for later ones (four in all). You can see how the style evolved over time. The outer walls are made 4' x 8' slabs of rock (their substitute for plywood panels), shaped and tilted inward to produce a kind of igloo effect, except more an oval shape. In the most recent temple, three of these "igloos" were lined in a row, large, medium, small. One supposed that these rooms correponded to holy, holier and holiest places. There is some carving of animals and designs (the original carving and other small pieces have been removed to the Archaeological Museum), with rock shelves, fireplaces and basins about. The roofs have long since collapsed, so it is not possible to figure out exactly how the buildings were finished above the first course of slabs. The kids found the maze-like quality of the ruins excellent for a game of hide and seek. On Christmas eve, we went to the Sunday market in the ditch outside the walls of Valleta. (The Knights built the fortified city on a peninsula, giving the protection of water on three sides. On the fourth they cut a deep ditch.) Not a lot caught our eye there, but I did notice you can by 8 Malta cigarette lighters for one Maltese pound (about $3 US). We were even in a cafe once with lighters on the menu. We did find a stand selling Christmas decorations, and we bought some for the room. After the market we visited the Archaeology Museum, to see the originals from Tarxien, and carving, figures and pottery from all over the island, prehistoric, Punic, and Roman. Sarah was getting antsy, so Kaye caught her interest by having her make sketches of some of the artifacts. She did a very faithful rendition of a burial urn and the infant skeleton that had been inside it. We then visited the Armoury, part of the former Grandmaster's Palace (of the Knights), now the seat of government. A knight was expected to donate all his armor, except sword and dagger, to the order on his death. Hence there are some beautiful suits of dress armor there belonging to former Grandmasters (although much ended up in France or being stolen from the collection before that). In addition to the dress armor, there was a lot of the real stuff, some with real bullet marks in it. (It looked like armor was effective against musketballs, since few of the holes went though the breast- or backplates.) Also lots of drums, cannon, swords and firearms to look at. We had lunch at an *outside* cafe--a little cool because we were in the shade, but not bad. We then took a ride in one of the many horse-drawn carriages that will take you around the walls of Valetta for whatever price the drivers think you are good for. (I was good for a higher price than Kaye might of managed on her own.) Sarah thought whipping around the cobblestones dodging traffic was great. We came back to the hotel for Christmas dinner, the best part of which was a mushroom appetizer and Christmas crackers (not food--a British party favor with a little toy, a hat and a joke you can't understand inside). I had been mainly unsuccessful in shopping for a Christmas present for Kaye in France, partly from fear of having my questions misunderstood in lingerie stores. I had hoped to find something at the market in Valetta, but didn't find anything that caught my eye. I made a last ditch effort on Christmas eve to find something. Prospects weren't great, as it was Sunday afternoon, and only jeans stores seem to open then. I wanted to find something, so my wife would talk to me for the rest of the trip. Luckily, I found a jewelry store that was open, and bought here a gold filigree pendant in the shape of (what else) a Maltese cross. Gold and silver filigree are specialities of Malta, so it is a nice reminder of the trip. I think I will break this report at Christmas day; I have a trip coming up, and I doubt I will finish the whole thing before then.