MALTA
One seemingly beautiful day we were sailing our restored barca-longa from Athens to Palermo when the watchkeeper spied a squall on the distant western horizon. Being competent sailors we dutifully prepared for stormy weather. What we encountered was much worse than we anticipated. We were comfortable sailing with a gentle beam reach when the wind freshened quickly we reefed the sails and battened down the hatches out of immediate concern. The next moment the decks were awash and we were on beam ends. Needless to say, we were in trouble. Then the watchkeeper spied a distant island just to our port side and we attempted to run to the safety of a hurricane hole to save our ship, as well as our lives. We were desperate for refuge from the storm. That is when we found the Grand Harbor of Valletta which on a normal day is one of the most spectacular natural deepwater harbors in the Mediterranean. It was our safe haven from a certain unwanted visit with Poseidon at his bottom of the sea home.
This must-have happened those many millennia ago when the Phoenician’s found themselves in the very same predicament. The Phoenician word Maleth, “a haven”, or “port” was the safe sheltered inlet that saved so many sailors in the past. That is how the island Malta became known to this day.
That possible tragic nightmare is now a distant fond memory to be told and retold to future nautical adventurers of the southern Mediterranean. Now we can embellish the dangerous as well as the enjoyable episodes of that memory with all of our EPIA brothers and sisters.
In October of 2020, the EPIA will congregate in this safe harbor area to meet and swap tales of selling ice throughout Europe.
Let me introduce each of you that have not had the pleasure of visiting Malta to the location of our next conference destination.
Malta is officially known as the Repubblika ta’ Malta in Maltese, it is the smallest of all EU countries (also the most densely populated) and the tenth smallest country in all the world. In spite of its size, it is a destination and registered yet another record year for the tourism industry, with 2.6 million tourists visiting Malta in 2018, according to the National Statistics Office. The number of inbound tourists rose by 14.3% over 2017. The vast majority of travelers – 2.2 million visitors – came from the European market, with most tourists hailing from the United Kingdom and Italy. At the end of 2018, there were 512.4 million people living in the EU. The 2.2 million European visitors to Malta account for less than ½ of one percent of people living in the EU. Why is that?
Malta has two official languages: Maltese and English. Until 1934, Italian was also an official language in Malta. The country having been governed by many different countries in the past, the Maltese population is generally able to converse in languages which are not native to the country. According to the Eurobarometer poll conducted in 2012, 98% of Maltese people can speak Maltese, 88% can speak English, 66% can speak Italian, and more than 17% speak French. It seems that only our Spanish only speaking members will be at a disadvantage during the convention. Of course, that is why we engage translators during the presentations.
Malta has such a rich multi-ethnic history with so many invaders since first being inhabited some 8,000 years ago. According to Wikipedia.com (thank you Wikipedia—please contribute annually as I do), Malta has been inhabited from around 5900 BC, since the arrival of settlers from the island of Sicily. A significant prehistoric Neolithic culture marked by Megalithic structures, which date back to circa 3600 BC, existed on the islands, as evidenced by the temples of Bugibba, Mnajdra, Ggantija and others.
The Phoenicians colonized Malta between 800–700 BC, bringing their Semitic language and culture. They used the islands as an outpost from which they expanded sea explorations and trade in the Mediterranean until their successors, the Carthaginians, were ousted by the Romans in 216 BC sailing out of what now is the restored Roman seaport, Ostia Antica. With the help of the Maltese inhabitants Malta became a municipium, a distinct state under the jurisdiction of Rome.
Because of this diverse occupation over the millennia, Malta has some of the most interesting and diverse architecture in all of the Mediterranean. The Ġgantija temples are the earliest of the Megalithic Temples of Malta and are older than the pyramids of Egypt. Their makers erected the two Ġgantija temples during the Neolithic (c. 3600–2500 BC), which makes these temples more than 5500 years old and the world’s second-oldest existing manmade religious structures after Göbekli Tepe in present-day Turkey. It looks like either these temples were not completed or the construction site was never properly cleaned up. The stone spheres found at ˙Ggantija scholars suggest were used to transport the enormous stone blocks for the temples since wheels were not developed until 2,000 years later.
Everything is not prehistoric, but everything is old. Some of the interesting still existing structures are places such as:
The Hypogeum: Malta is home to an underground temple built in around 800 BC called the Hypogeum. The walls of the Hypogeum were decorated with frescos. Skeletons found there were mainly female skeletons indicating a priestess hierarchy.
Mosta Rotunda: Largest Dome Church in Malta: The Parish Church of the Assumption, known as the Mosta Rotunda has the third largest unsupported Church Dome in the world. In WW2, three bombs were dropped that landed on the dome – two bounced off and one didn’t detonate. The locals saw this as a miracle but could have been just plain good luck in preparation for us to see it in October.
Mdina Fortress: Built on a high plateau in the heart of Malta, Mdina is known as the silent city, because it was abandoned in favor of Valletta. Mdina (so-called due to Arabic influences) was the capital of Malta in medieval times, but then the capital was moved to Valletta because the location was said to be better positioned for effective fortification. Highlights of Mdina fortress include the natural history museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the catacombs. Highly recommended as a destination during our visit to Malta.
St. John’s Cathedral: One of the most beautiful Churches in the nation to be seen. Restorations of the structure took place in 2011 and approximately 2.000 square meters of gold foil was used to regild the structure. The Church is divided into eight side chapels on either side of the nave – one for each of the languages or peoples of the order of the Knights of St. John. The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller or the Order of Saint John, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order commonly known as the Order of Malta, a Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalric and noble nature. It has been called “the smallest sovereign state in the world.” It was headquartered in Malta from 1530 until 1798. Today several organizations continue the Hospitaller tradition, most importantly the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. The Order of Saint John had a long and important influence on the architecture and lifestyle of Malta as you will see during our visit.
Malta is the exposed landmass mountain top consisting of two main islands Malta and Gozo between Sicily and Libya. On the eastern coast of the island of Malta, Valletta is a peninsula dividing the two main harbors. North is the city of Sliema which is the residential area across the harbor and includes the coastline up to neighboring St. Julian’s which defines Malta’s main coastal resort and the most affluent neighborhood on the island.
South of the Valetta peninsula is Birgu, which is a very old locality with its origins reaching back to medieval times. Prior to the establishment of Valletta as capital and main city of Malta, military powers that wanted to rule the Maltese islands would need to obtain control of Birgu due to its significant position south of the Grand Harbor. In fact, it served as the base of the Order of Saint John and de facto capital city of Malta from 1530 to 1571. Birgu is well known for its vital role in the Great Siege of Malta of 1565.
Malta’s economy has vacillated over the years. In the distant past, Malta was a safe harbor for most nautical trade from the Levant and Africa to southern Europe. Then In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal benefited Malta’s economy greatly as there was a massive increase in the shipping which entered the port. The Mediterranean Sea became the «world highway of trade» at that time and Malta was positioned to provision the large number of ships with coal and various supplies on their way to the Indian Ocean and the Far East heading East and Western Europe and Africa heading West during 1871 to 1881. By 1882, Malta reached the height of its prosperity. However, the boom did not last long. By the end of the 19th century, the economy began declining and by the 1940s, Malta’s economy was in serious crisis. This was primarily due to the invention of large cargo ships which had become oil-fired and therefore had no need to stop in the Grand Harbor of Malta to re-provision for the crew and take on coal.
In spite of all this turmoil with very limited land area, Malta has sustained a high standard of living and today ranks in the middle of economic health compared to all EU countries.
With this background your participation, the EPIA will be adding to the historic events that have taken place in Malta.
I asked Google “Does Valetta have a readily available supply of ice cubes.” I got back 11 answers. The oldest was 8 years ago and the newest was 6 years ago—all said no. One suggested going to the fish market—a bad idea. As we EPIA producers know very well. The internet tells me that the tap water in Malta is desalinated seawater. Malta is a small country with no rivers, lakes, or reservoirs, therefore they get most of their running water from the sea and just take the salt out of it. Of course, all other minerals are also taken out, making the water more like tasteless distilled water than spring water. Malta averages only 550 mm of rainfall per year, which is a low amount of water spread over a densely populated area, meaning that water is in very short supply on the islands. We all know that without a readily available and reliable supply of quality water, there is a very limited opportunity to provide safe packaged ice, or as we say “Ice you can trust.” Is this an opportunity for someone to expand into Malta? See you in October to discuss.