Why is it - that everytime the plane approaches this little spot in the Mediterranean sea, I get such a warm feeling all over - like I'm finally coming home again! And this is not at all "home" for me - it is really faraway from home - about 4000 kilometers, I think!When I drive my rented car from Luqa towards Ghadira, and I pass the beautiful silent city - Mdina - I get chills on my back and I get real tears in my eyes - I can cry for pure happiness of beeing here once again!
I have travelled a bit in my life. Not much, but more than most, I think. I have viseted all the countries in Europe, except central and Eastern Europe-, where I have seen only former Yugoslavia and Eastern Germany and a bit of Checkoslovakia..I was a month in South India once, I was for some weeks in Ethiopia and I was one month in the USA a year ago - but never, never have I felt so happy as I have - many times - in Malta!
In the little town of Mellieha I am home. For the last ten years or so I used to live in the"danish village" - Mellieha Holiday Centre - just below the Mellieha village, just near the beautiful beach, when I visited Malta .In Mellieha you can by vegetables at this store in the hilly road, and George, the baker, has wonderful bread - always fresh from the oven.. You buy good meet on the opposite side of the road, and then you drive past the church - the shrine of the Virgin Mary- where they say that St Luke, the apostel, painted a picture that is still hanging in there.
Of course you already know what St Paul thought of this little island, where he happened to shipwreck on his trip to Rome in those days - it=B4s all in the Bible!
For over 20 years I took different groups of people to Malta. I arranged conferences and courses in Malta - for swedish groups of adults in the Swedish church study organisation.I think I brought about 1000 swedish people during the years. Almost everyone still loves this beautiful place.
Everything is different from my real home country -- Sweden!
Sweden has a lot of vast forests - Malta has Barraca Gardens.... Sweden is over 1000 kilometers long - Malta is 25 km long.... Sweden has winter, summer, spring and fall.. Malta has almost only spring and summer...(at least compared to Sweden) Sweden has about 8 million inhabitants - Malta has about 330 thousands.
How come Malta feels so much "home"?
The people are very, very friendly and their hospitality is enormous! You never get the feeling that you are some kind of intruder - that you often can feel travelling for instance to Mallorca or Costa del Sol or so! It is also easy to communicate - since it seems all maltese speak english - at least the younger generation! But I would really like to learn how to speak maltese too !
I think perhaps that the colours of Malta also give a reflexion of pease and quietness! The light yellow-brown stone of Malta and all the houses in the same stone - makes everything so beautiful! And the blue sea that surrounds the islands - Malta, Gozo, Comino, Cominetto and Filfla. The flowers in springtime makes the island look like some heavenly pasture - I suppose this is what heaven looks like!
What are the most important things to see when you visit Malta? Well, I think I have been there for at least 25 times - and I still have not seen all - though I have been trying hard! Marsaxlokk - the fishing harbour on the south coast with the delicious sword fish that you can eat in Skuna Bar? Ghar Dalam - the grotto where all these strange animals were found in one place- bears, elephants. - thousands and thousands of years old? Blue Grotto - where you can find the bluest water and the clearest, that you have ever experienced? The Dingli Cliffs, with the ancient "car tracks" - what ever they are? The beautiful sand beach at Golden Sands? The Marfa Ridge, where you can experience the most wonderful sunset in the world? The Paradise Bay - a smaller and quite unknown beach in the north? Gozo - the green island some minutes away from teh main isaland - Dwejra, Inland Sea, The Azur window, Calypso Bay - Xlendi - well - There is no end to all the extratordinary beauties of this country in the sea.
Well - I would lik to write a book about it some day - but then everyone will go there - and I am so happy to feel as I have Malta and the lovely people all to myself when I I am there! Do you think I am selfish - well - that may well be!
I will continue to read the Malta Home Page with great interest - I found it the first week that I had acces to Internet!
Many kind greetins to you all from
E-mail: Ulla Littgren
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