Situated between Sicily and Tunisia, counts among its unwelcome guests the Romans, the Ottomans, Napoleon and, in the early 20th century, hundreds of Russian aristocrats fleeing the fall of the czarist autocracy. For the most part, the Maltese were having none of this. This amazing Mediterranean island is a country itself.
Napoleon was forced out after just two years, and the Knights of Malta — effectively, and against all odds — defeated the Ottoman Empire’s much larger forces. In Valletta, Malta’s capital, people still bring up the Great Siege with enormous pride, boasting about it as if they had actually been there.
People love to invade Malta. When I visited Valetta, I was impressed by the landscape I had in front of my eyes. I thought I had traveled back in the time of the Knights and princesses. The city is like an open castle. The streets do not remain avenues at all. Carriages with horses cross the streets and people prefer to take one of them instead of a taxi.
As a multilingual person , I found a place in Malta when I learnt how many languages you can speak there. Valletta, like the rest of Malta, is a pastiche of historical influences. Its language has undertones ranging from Arabic to Italian, among a variety of other dialects.It turns out that about one-third of the words in the Maltese language, not to mention its grammar, are derived from the Arabic that was spoken by Muslim settlers of the Mediterranean islands in the mid-11th century.
When Malta, joined the European Union in 2004, Maltese became an official language of the bloc, meaning that important documents and Brussels paperwork are now available in Maltese translations
Some phrases in Maltese use all Arabic-based words, like “il-foqra ssibuhum dejjem maghkom” (pronounced il-FO-ra ssibu-hom DEY-yem MAA-kom), which means “the poor will always be with you.
It is not random that it wll be the Culture Capital of 2018.
The same is true of the food, a unique mix of Mediterranean and North African influences — which, as it turns out, is one of the more positive results of all those invasions.
Napoleon was forced out after just two years, and the Knights of Malta — effectively, and against all odds — defeated the Ottoman Empire’s much larger forces. In Valletta, Malta’s capital, people still bring up the Great Siege with enormous pride, boasting about it as if they had actually been there.
People love to invade Malta. When I visited Valetta, I was impressed by the landscape I had in front of my eyes. I thought I had traveled back in the time of the Knights and princesses. The city is like an open castle. The streets do not remain avenues at all. Carriages with horses cross the streets and people prefer to take one of them instead of a taxi.
As a multilingual person , I found a place in Malta when I learnt how many languages you can speak there. Valletta, like the rest of Malta, is a pastiche of historical influences. Its language has undertones ranging from Arabic to Italian, among a variety of other dialects.It turns out that about one-third of the words in the Maltese language, not to mention its grammar, are derived from the Arabic that was spoken by Muslim settlers of the Mediterranean islands in the mid-11th century.
When Malta, joined the European Union in 2004, Maltese became an official language of the bloc, meaning that important documents and Brussels paperwork are now available in Maltese translations
Some phrases in Maltese use all Arabic-based words, like “il-foqra ssibuhum dejjem maghkom” (pronounced il-FO-ra ssibu-hom DEY-yem MAA-kom), which means “the poor will always be with you.
It is not random that it wll be the Culture Capital of 2018.
The same is true of the food, a unique mix of Mediterranean and North African influences — which, as it turns out, is one of the more positive results of all those invasions.
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