Why Malta
There is something irrational about the density of Malta. On 316 km² of golden limestone, this Mediterranean archipelago south of Sicily has accumulated 7,000 years of superimposed histories: from the Neolithic temples of Ggantija, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids of Egypt, to the baroque fortifications of the Knights of St. John who resisted the Ottoman siege of 1565, to the scars of the Blitz that hit the island with an intensity comparable to London. Every street in Valletta, every alley in Mdina is a stratum to be deciphered.
What strikes you when you arrive is the stone. Only one, everywhere: the local coral limestone, known as "globigerine", which takes on a shade ranging from creamy white to dark honey, depending on the time. The fortifications, the palaces, the houses, the staircases: everything is carved in this unique material. The Mediterranean light makes it a palette of different paintings every hour. Valletta, European Capital of Culture in 2018, alone concentrates more listed monuments per square kilometre than any other city in Europe.
And then there's the sea. The Blue Lagoon of Comino, with its turquoise waters of a confounding transparency, is one of the most shared images of the Mediterranean. Not without reason: visibility reaches 30 meters, the seabed is populated by groupers, octopuses and wrecks from the Second World War. 2h30 from Paris, without visa, in euros, without jet lag: Malta is probably the trip we should have made a long time ago.
