Malta Complete: Blue Lagoon Comino, Gozo Sister Island, the World's Oldest Freestanding Temples, Caravaggio at St. John's, the Three Cities Maritime Quarter, and the Maltese Rabbit National Dish
The full Malta experience extends from the Mdina Silent City to the Blue Lagoon turquoise enclosure at Comino, the Ggantija Neolithic temples older than the pyramids, the Caravaggio masterpieces in their original setting at St. John's Co-Cathedral, the authentic Three Cities harbour communities, and the pastizzi and rabbit stew of the Maltese culinary tradition.
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The Blue Lagoon: The Comino Jewel
The Blue Lagoon in the channel between Comino and Cominotto, the small limestone islands between Malta and Gozo, is the most photographed natural water feature in Malta and one of the most beautiful enclosed saltwater lagoons in the Mediterranean, with the turquoise crystal-clear water over the white sand seabed in an enclosure of orange limestone cliffs. The Blue Lagoon is accessible by regular ferry from Malta and Gozo and by private charter boat, and is at its most beautiful in the early morning before the day trip boats arrive.
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Gozo: The Quiet Sister Island
Gozo, the second island of the Maltese archipelago accessible by a 25-minute ferry from Cirkewwa, is the quieter and more rural alternative to the Malta tourist infrastructure, with the Azure Window arch (collapsed 2017), the Ggantija Neolithic Temples of 3600 BC that are the oldest freestanding structures in the world, the Xlendi Bay fishing village, and the Ramla Bay beach. The Gozo character of agricultural villages, fresh fish markets, and the slower Mediterranean pace provides the authentic island contrast to the Valletta and Sliema resort circuit.
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Prehistoric Malta: The Megalithic Temples
The Maltese megalithic temple complex, including Hagar Qim and Mnajdra on the Malta south coast and Ggantija on Gozo, constitutes the oldest freestanding religious architecture in the world, built between 3600 and 2500 BC in a temple-building civilization that predates the Egyptian pyramids by a millennium. The remarkable precision of the solar alignment at the Mnajdra equinox sunrise, when the sun illuminates the central axis of the apse, indicates an astronomical sophistication in the Maltese Neolithic culture that has no parallel in contemporary Mediterranean civilization.
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Valletta Architecture: St. John's Co-Cathedral
St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, the conventual church of the Knights of St. John built in 1577 and the most complete surviving example of the high baroque ecclesiastical interior anywhere in the world, contains two Caravaggio masterpieces, the Beheading of St. John the Baptist (1608) which is Caravaggio's largest and the only work signed by the artist, and the St. Jerome, that together constitute the finest single collection of Caravaggio paintings in their original commissioned setting in any church in the world.
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The Three Cities: The Maritime Heritage
The Three Cities of Vittoriosa, Senglea, and Cospicua across the Grand Harbour from Valletta, the oldest fortified settlements in Malta and the location of the original Knight's settlement before the building of Valletta, are the least-visited and most authentically Maltese urban environment accessible from the capital, with the Inquisitor's Palace, the Maritime Museum, and the waterfronts of the fishing communities creating the encounter with the working-class Maltese harbour culture that the Valletta tourist circuit does not provide.
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Maltese Cuisine: The ftira, the Pastizzi, and the Rabbit
The Maltese culinary tradition, reflecting the Arab, Sicilian, French, and British layers of the island's colonial history, centers on the ftira sandwich of crusty Maltese bread filled with tuna, capers, and tomato, the pastizzi pastry of the flaky ricotta or peas filling sold at the village pastizzeria from dawn, and the fenek rabbit stew in wine and garlic that is the national dish most associated with the Sunday family meal and the village festa culture. The Maltese rabbit is the most distinctively local ingredient available at no other Mediterranean island.