malta, visiting malta, valletta, europe, mediterranean, vacation in malta, maltese, travels in southern europe

Malta caught me off guard. I came, of course, expecting tales of the Knights of Malta (or Knights of St. John, as they’re officially known)—stone fortresses and crusader lore—and the soft lapping of Mediterranean waves against golden shores. But I wasn’t prepared for everything else. On this sun-soaked archipelago just south of Sicily, Neolithic temples rise from honey-hued limestone, whispering of matriarchal rule.