Location, location – in Malta, land of knights and epic heroes

THE ‘Silent City’ is not living up to its sobriquet. As Mdina’s limestone palaces glow in the noon sun we battle our way through the tourist hubbub, lamenting we couldn’t have arrived at dawn or dusk. It’s a far cry from that time in the 16th century when the ruling Knights of Malta switched their capital to Valletta, turning Mdina into a ghost town inside its ramparts.

The Beheading of John The Baptist was the only ‘Caravaggio’ he ever signed – in the blood dripping from the martyr’s half-severed neck

This has helped preserve its remarkable beauty. The mythic element is enhanced when we discover we are keeping company with one of the Dothraki, those horse-mounted nomads from Essos across the Narrow Sea. Yes, our local tour guide Audrey admits she was hired as an extra (“it was such a fun time”) for the filming here of Game of Thrones Season One.

Mdina (it means fortified place) was enlisted as a key location before the production circus shifted to Dubrovnik in Croatia. Magnet for a million selfies, the magnificent Main Gate stood in as the entrance to King’s Landing. Hard to credit now but the saga wasn’t inevitably a surefire hit. Sean Bean made his Hollywood name playing Odysseus in Troy, also filmed on the island, but for the Thrones generation he is forever Ned Stark, Lord of Winterfell, beheaded at the end of that first season.

Perhaps the Thronies are not the visitors who would seek out Mdina’s lace boutiques, shop for gem gifts at the Maltese Falcon (sic) or nibble the legendary chocolate cake at Fontanella’s cafe built into the battlements… but hey.

The British love affair with Malta runs deep

Malta’s own history is as colourful as the fictional Game of Thrones. And Britain’s own role is evident everywhere. As Audrey elaborates on the significance of Mdina’s great Baroque Cathedral of St Paul I am distracted by an ER red postbox behind me, set into the Palazzo del Prelato. 

We were invited to take over the island in 1798, replacing the Knights and repulsing Napoleon. The Crown Colony was finally granted its independence in 1964. 60 years on the English language still co-exists with Maltese. It sums up the melting pot nature of this maritime crossroads between Sicily and Africa that has been contested by waves of invaders. Today it’s arguably the most welcoming destination for British tourists. They made up the largest percentage of last year’s 3.56 million visitors – a 20 per cent increase on 2023.

Larger than life ghosts are everywhere, particularly in bustling Valletta. We were staying in buzzing Sliema across the harbour, in the state of the art Best View Fortina Luxury Suites,  with their on site leisure facilities and restaurants. Best View? Of the stunning Valletta skyline. Catch the ferry across to commune with those ghosts – Byron and Coleridge, Caravaggio and Oliver Reed… and a certain Alof de Wignacourt. 

Knights in shining armour and a hell-raising star

Back in the early 16th century Alof was the latest in a series of Grand Masters, who headed up the Order of St John, aka the Knights of Malta. Let’s call this hero of the Grand Siege (an attempted Ottoman invasion that was fought off) ‘Grand Master Flash’ on the evidence of his choice of armour. 

You’ll find this lavishly ornate, Italian-made suit in the Armoury inside the Grand Master’s Palace, in the heart of Valletta. It’s the star turn in one of the worlds’s great collections of swords, firearms, and artillery pieces – stark evidence of the Knights’ military might. The Palace itself, later the British Governor General’s residency, is a rather gloomy pile. Entry: 12 euros.

Just around the corner you come upon a homage to a very different warrior. In 1999 Malta was providing yet another movie location, this time for the original Gladiator. Oliver Reed was in the cast, the film’s star Russell Crowe unhappy with this hellraiser’s binge drinking. One phenomenal session in The Pub on Archbishop Street that involved Reed arm-wrestling sailors sparked his fatal heart attack. Famously, early CGI techniques were used to complete his supporting role in Ridley Scott’s epic. The Pub still plays the shrine with a raft of Reed stills.

It’s not a place to linger over quality beer. For that experience it’s a five minute hop to 67 Kapitali, a showcase for Malta’s enterprising craft brewery, Lord Chambray, and guest brews. 

More Malta mavericks – in the steps of Coleridge, Byron and Caravaggio

Ghosts again. The bar is on Old Bakery Street, where the poet Coleridge found a lodging when he arrived on the island in 1804, seeking an opium detox and an escape from a complicated love triangle. Amazingly he was adopted by the Governor General and given a senior diplomatic role that involved liaising with Nelson’s fleet. Then the poppy-driven night sweats kicked in again.

Five years later Coleridge’s fellow Romantic bard, Lord Byron, stomped off in a huff when he failed to get the red carpet treatment. His poem Farewell To Malta doesn’t sit on the fence: “Adieu, ye cursed streets of stairs! How surely he who mounts you swears!… Adieu, thou damned’st quarantine, That gave me fever, and the spleen!” 

Just 30 years later Valletta’s iconic Caffe Cordina was founded, making it one of the oldest cafés in Europe. The original was destroyed by Nazi bombs during the war and it moved to its current site off Valletta’s Republic Square in 1944. This family-run coffee house bakes all its pastries in a basement factory below its spectacular vaulted dining room, once Treasury of the Knights. I’d recommend the qaghac tal-ghasel honey rings. Maltese food generally is a mixed bag, marrying Italian and North African influences. Try the pastizzi, crunchy pastries filled with ricotta or the local ‘pizza’, ftira. Rabbit stew is ubiquitous and the island's wines surprisingly tasty.

The Caffe’s interior is just an hors d’oeuvre for the garish feast that is the Baroque Co-Cathedral of St. John, where the Knights once worshipped and buried their dead, creating 350 marble tombstones across the main floorspace. The grey facade gives no clue to the over-opulent interior. That man again, de Wignacourt, ordered that each of the eight countries represented in the Order should design their own side chapel, leading to a spate of decorative one-upmanship. The true treasure, though, remains a Caravaggio masterpiece, The Beheading of John The Baptist. It was the only one of his works he ever signed – in the blood dripping from the martyr’s half-severed neck.

Bloodshed followed the great Italian artist around. On the run from a murder rap in Rome, hoping to expiate his mortal sin, he came to Malta with the idea of joining the Knights of St John. Alof de Wignacourt (who else?) successfully lobbied the Pope on his behalf. In return Caravaggio gave them his Baptist and a portrait of de Wignacourt, which now hangs in the Louvre. The artist’s Maltese tenure was short-lived. After being involved in the savage beating of a fellow Knight he escaped prison, fled and was expelled in absentia.

Go to Gozo for dramatic cliffs, a prehistoric marvel and a stunning citadel

A fifth the size of Malta proper and decidedly more lush and laid back, this companion island is a must-visit. There is a fast ferry from our Sliema base, but ours was cancelled due to strong winds; instead we drove north to the main car ferry terminal at Cirkewwa. En route we passed Popeye Village, another lasting legacy of a rich movie history. Built as a set for the 1980 musical Popeye, starring Robin Williams as the lantern-jawed cartoon sailor, it lives on as a funfair resort. 

No chance to stop off. There is so much to see on Gozo on a day trip. Beautiful sandy beaches such as Ramla Bay and remote San Blas Bay are tempting stop-offs, but it is the rugged coastline to the west that is a magnet. 

Dwejra is most famous for what has disappeared. Eight years ago a winter storm destroyed the iconic Azure Window, a 100ft tall limestone arch. Inevitably, it had featured in Game of Thrones as the backdrop to the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo. The sea around remains a popular diving site and there are great cliff walks.

More durable is Fungus Rock out in the bay. It is home to the phallic-shaped, parasitic  ‘Maltese fungus’, cherished by the medieval Knights for its medicinal properties, since discredited. You’ve no chance of checking out this rare plant – the habitat is out of bounds.

What else you can see? The ancient fortress of Ċittadella (citadel), on a ridge above the main town of Victoria, is visible from all corners of Gozo and from its highest point, the St Martin Cavalie Bastion, you can survey the entire island and much of Malta. Like Mdina it was once a ghost town after it failed to withstand its own Ottoman siege in 1551 and most of its 5,000 inhabitants were carted off to slavery. Today its population remains tiny and it offers quieter exploring than Mdina. 

The Archaeology Museum below the walls illuminates the earlier Phoenician and Roman occupations and traces the site back to its Neolithic origins. A mere youngster, though, compared with Gozo’s mind-blowing Ġgantija Temples. These unique stone marvels were constructed between 3600 and 3200 BC, predating the Pyramids by 500 years and Stonehenge by a millennium.

The complex comprises two limestone structures, each with its own entrance yet sharing a common boundary wall. Multiple apses are arranged around a central corridor. Stone hearths suggest the use of fire, animal bones communal feasting.

That the interior walls were once decorated is indicated by fragments of plaster with red ochre, exhibited at the Ġgantija Archaeological Park Interpretation Centre (park entry: 10 euros). In such a time span the Knights of Malta and Game of Thrones are mere footnotes in history.

Best View Fortina Luxury Suites – a perfect Malta base

To call Maltese hospitality entrepreneur Michael Zammit Tabona a legend is no exaggeration. At 75 he shows no sign of slowing down after a lifetime consolidating his family’s hotel empire (and maintaining close links with Manchester – and in particular, many United greats).

We stayed at his latest project on the Sliema waterfront. It does what it says on the tin – provide a benchmark Valletta panorama from suite balconies. The serviced apartments come in three versions, one, two and three bedroom, each with its own en suite. All feature high-spec kitchens, laundry rooms and enough modern appliances to occasionally baffle a dinosaur like me.

Guests also have access to the seafront spa, gym, indoor pool and outdoor lido, as well as dining discounts in nearby restaurants. 

A sister property, The Village Boutique and Spa boasts the terrific Village Kitchen with local sourcing and al fresco tables. This converted farmhouse with beautiful gardens is just a 20 minute drive inland at Naxxar. Combine it with Fortina for a more rural experience on crowded Malta.