[Advanced] Magnificent Malta (2)

Honestly, though the capital of Valletta is beautiful in its antiquity, if that's all you experience of Malta, you might as well pick any of half a dozen Italian cities for the same kind of vacation.

Small-town faves

My favorite small town is the Norman city of Mdina (St. Paul's Cathedral and the gorgeous medieval Palazzo Falson house/museum). You probably could get your fill of ancient architecture in Valletta and environs, but Mdina is a fascinating, scenic place to walk, with immaculate, narrow stone streets built on a curve supposedly to make the flight of arrows more difficult. There also is a fair share of shopping, so you will find that Maltese cross pendant you didn't know you wanted.

The picture-perfect fishing port of Marsaxlokk (pronounced marsa-shloke and home to a fishing fleet and attendant great seafood) is near the airport and thus a great way to decompress whether coming or going. On a Saturday in Marsaxlokk, restaurants offer all kinds of alfresco dining. I eeny-meeny-miny-moed one of the tents arrayed along the harbor and had some of the best amberjack I've ever tasted (they call it acciola).

I liked Zurrieq for a different reason: Not a tourist town, it seemed the most genuinely Maltese. It's also where a shopkeeper — a sweet man — started crying when talking about the global economic downturn. Until that moment, I'd envied his situation in life. Turns out he envied mine.

The town seemed Italian, with old men gathering on the streets near dusk to talk about a day that was a lot like the one before. Meanwhile, the old women went into the main church, I think to pray for their old men outside.

mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130507adaa6dba2c13c504e513422ff1f3607206f.wma