Malta Travel Guide: Beautiful Mdina Gets Even More Gorgeous

Did you ever see or pet a baby falcon? I did the weekend of the April 18tth when my neighbor Carmen and I went to Mdina for its annual flower and pageantry festival.

Mdina is one of the most popular sites in Malta. It's a fortified (city surrounded by high walls) first built in the 1500s. Narrow curved streets, spectacular views overlooking Malta, restaurants tucked away into the living stone. It's my favorite spot, I'd say, in the whole world. For me to tell you how beautiful Mdina is over and over makes no sense. You'll have to see it for yourself. Truly, the best thing for you to do is to Google Mdina and see everything that comes up about it. But let me tell you-in my organized prose--the highlights that I loved this past weekend.

1. I had never seen falcons before. Yes, these are the famed Maltese falcons. Big incredible birds like hawks or eagles, I would say. Even the baby falcon-which was only 14 days old-was big and fluffy, but he could only flap around in a box.

2. There were people all dressed up in authentic medieval costumes-complete with swords and horrible boil-like things on their faces. The women wore full medieval costumes with layers of petticoats. In the summer, Malta is a very hot place. You have to wonder how these people survived in their armor and neck-to-ankle dresses.

3. There were supposed to be re-enactments of battles throughout Medina, but we missed them all somehow. For those who saw them, they said they were frighteningly realistic.

4. The walls, churches, gateways of Mdina-everything-were covered with fresh flowers of all kinds. The fragrance in the air was mesmerizing.

4. There was a medieval kitchen in one of the old monasteries. Stone walls and ovens, copper pots all over the place and pottery I wanted to steal.

5. Carmen's brother-in-law-the former President and Prime Minster of Malta (!)-had his portrait/photo hanging up in an art gallery.

6. No one stopped you from touching things-even the baby falcon, the furniture in the monastery or many of the pots and antiquities. This was something I was very impressed with. This is something that would never happen in America where even the bolts--bolting things down-are bolted down.

7. Carmen showed me the convent in Mdina where her aunt was a nun for 55 years. "She went in that door and never came out," she said. That wasn't one of the more cheery thoughts of the day. Nevertheless, it was an intriguing place.

8. We sneaked into one church where we watched florists set up---peonas--white flowers (resembling roses) shipped in from the Netherlands to be used in a wedding that evening.

Alas, there were "slaves" dressed in rags and chained together in the square, commemorating the slave market from centuries ago. I was interested in one hunk, but they wouldn't take a debit card.

Reference: This article is adapted from the author's website An-American-in-Malta.com.