One thing about this island I had learnt from Tim and Christine was how it has been ruled by so many different folks. Given the location in the Mediterranean Sea, a very short distance away from Europe and Africa, this island has had very strategic implications from a military as well as a trade point of view.

Over the centuries, they have been ruled by the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Greeks (Byzantines), the Arabs (Adhlabids), the Italians (Normans), the Germans (Swabians), the Aragonese, the Spanish, the Order of St. John, the French and then the British. Somehow the Ottomans could not ever conquer them.

When I was talking to the hotel gentleman about airport transport, I found out that we are actually going to land up amidst their Independence Day festivities. Malta finally became free on Sep 21, 1964!