Malta part 1

Hello friends!

I'm sorry it's been so quiet for the last few days. But now I'm back!

When I started this blog the idea was to show people my awesome selfie skills and to tell you guys about my travels all over the world. Lately I've been distracted by all the interesting things that have happened here at home so I've posted a lot of everyday stuff. But this time I have a proper travel post you for; Malta!

A couple of years ago Julius and I went to Malta for a week in February. And yes It was as wonderful as it sounds. In Helsinki it was –10 °C and dark and miserable, but in Malta it was spring and everything was green and yellow.

Malta is a fascinating country. Did you know that the Maltese language is a form of Arabic sprinkled with Italian and English words? I managed to pick up a few words, il-mowbajl is a mobile phone but can you guess what il-ħomwerk means?

The history of the country is fascinating too. The Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Normans, the Italians, the French and the English have all left their mark on the Islands. It is, for example, not hard to tell that Malta was a British colony until 1964...

Even before the Phoenicians showed up there were people living in Malta, and they built some pretty impressive megalithic temples. We went to see the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples. They are both at least 5200 years old. Which makes them some of the oldest religious sites on the planet.

The nearby museum had some toy stone blocks that you could use to build your own temple. I found that much more interesting than dusty old stones outside.

The first temple in the world dedicated to me.

The temples are located on the west coast of Malta Islands. It's a very beautiful rural area. Here's a picture taken from a little further down the coast. Not a bad view, right?

And here's a selfie I took on the cliffs above the Blue Grotto. It's a cave that's only accessable from the sea. The sunlight reflects off the surface of the water and produces blue patterns of the walls of the cave. 

I think I'll stop here for today, but in the next post I'll tell you about Gozo, the other island in Malta.

By the way, Julius made some pretty shady friends in Malta. Check them out here in my post about travelling with the little rascal.