Getting in touch with ancient codes of honour and chivalry, Vanessa Threapleton-Horrocks (no doubt inspired by Shakespeare or the forthcoming festive season and its associated good cheer), fancied a bit of a quest, and although Jason already found the Golden Fleece and the Monty Python team made comic short work of the Holy Grail, this little Mediterranean adventure hosted a far more subtle variety of treasures for the discerning visitor.

Forget the magpie or Midas touch, for history and culture is very much at the epicenter of this island’s reawakening. So, readers, cast your preconceptions of Maltese magic, the package holiday way, aside and prepare for an altogether more luxurious, sophisticated experience...

I have a great penchant for honey, especially so as a small child. It’s oh-so-sweet yet refined nectar; its golden syrupy texture heightening the taste buds and gently caressing the throat as it oozes deliciously down. It’s naughty but nice, however there is an edifying angle too: the Ancient Chinese honoured the ambrosial formula for its healing properties and the warrior-race Romans tended their soldiers’ wounds with its nourishing, regenerative goodness. With such a legacy, I knew I was on a winning streak whenever I prized open a jar. But can one have too much of a good thing? Or will this long-favoured taste make a gratifying return to the palate? Think of Malta, that “honey-sweet” tiny rock in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, with its tantalizingly strategic position, straddling both Europe and Africa, together with its tempting temperatures, providing agreeably mild winters with long summers of endless golden sunshine. Possessing the novel honour of being the most conquered piece of European land, Malta has certainly been tasted by a plethora of different civilisations and empires: from the Sicilians, the sea-faring Phoenicians, the myth-making Greeks (Malta comes from the Greek Melita meaning “honey”), to the industrious Romans, the linguistics-inspiring Arabs (Maltese is the only Semitic language to use the Latin alphabet), the French and of course, the British. All have left their indelible imprint on the tri-island archipelago, but perhaps the latter is responsible for the bittersweet aftertaste experienced during the package holiday heights of the 1980’s and 1990’s. But delve deeper into the Maltese hive for the medicinal propolis and leaving the beach-centric boom behind, the virtually untouched golden charms of Malta’s cultural cities and neighbouring Gozo’s ancient shrines are what draws this scribe to make a beeline for the islands. Malta is ripe for a buzzing renaissance.

As the Air Malta wings touched down upon the island nation (one of the EU’s newest and smallest recruits), my adventuring instinct immediately sought the largest natural harbour in Europe on the northeastern shore. Here, gliding along the aptly named Grand Harbour, one finds the setting affords prime views of the impressive, lofty bastions built by one of the island’s greatest historical forces, The Knights of the Order of St John. As I embarked upon this short nautical journey on board a traditional Maltese Daghajsa, an elegant wooden long-boat not too dissimilar from the Venetian canal boat variety, with its striking Maltese coat of arms proudly placed at the head of the boat, I cast my eyes across the water to the horizon and Malta’s chivalric past was clear for all to see. With its honey-glazed ancient buildings: walls, bridges, churches, forts, ravelins and palaces, I couldn’t help imagining the scene back in the days of the Knights Hospitaller, around the mid-16th century when Fort St Angelo at the tip of the peninsula was in operation. In those days, Vittoriosa was called Birgu (a name which locals still use today), the oldest of the ancient Three Cities which sprang up along the Grand Harbour. But, as with most holidays, there was a practical agenda behind the romance: the boat-crossing to VIttoriosa was necessary from our five-star base - the Excelsior Grand Hotel (Reservations call 00 356 2125 0520 - www.excelsior.com.mt), and its Marsamxett harbour-front setting - in order to reach our dining venue, the former Valetta Customs House-turned-chi-chi private members’ casino. The club’s restaurant, Casino di Venezia, boasts generous views of the busy marina, bumper to bumper with fabulous yachts and fishing boats alike, amongst them Roman Abramovich’s schooner.

Despite its recent popularity as a package holiday destination, Malta nevertheless retains an air of mystery for the cultural traveller. Waking up on my first morning in the island’s micro-capital, Valetta, I was eager to leave the hotel and sample the Maltese nectar, as the city attractions tantalizingly awaited discovery on foot. Each narrow street encountered, festooned with bottle-green wooden balconies, was home to a cultural relic or two, culminating in its remarkably intact Baroque architecture, apparently a valiant attempt by the Knights to outdo the Medici’s. Valetta is permeated by the legend of the Knights of the Order of St John, whose role was to tend to sick pilgrims en route to the Holy Land. When they were expelled from Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522, they settled on the strategic spot of Malta and thanks to the generosity of Charles V of Spain, they were able to make it their home, all for the perpetual annual rent of two live Maltese falcons. It wasn’t long before the Knights established rule on the island and built the magnificently lofty bastions to fortify and protect it from would-be invaders. This proved to be a fortuitous strategy when Malta ended up being invaded by a swarm of Ottoman Turks in 1565. Despite the intimidating might of their old enemy, the Siege of Malta was won by the Knights who successfully defended the island and by proxy, found themselves lauded as heroes and defenders of Christianity in the eyes of the rest of Europe. Valetta was built in triumph the following year under Grandmaster Jean Parisot de la Valette whose ambition was to found a prestigious city to rival any other. The new city was officially named Humilissima Civitas Valetta - The Most Humble City of Valetta, but with its bounteous baroque beauty and staggering number of palaces, it soon earned the tag, Superbissima - 'Most Proud', amongst its European neighbours.

Today, the golden-stoned bastions that crown the city and its urban hinterlands look just as impressive and impenetrable. But even within Valetta, the Knights’ worker-bee dexterity in architectural skill is evident: the capital is tiny with its narrow streets systematically ordered into gridlines – no doubt Manhattan’s city designers took vital inspiration here! Deep within these honeycomb streets the residential abodes, or Auberges, of the knights are found, before one spies the clear-blue Mediterranean waters at the end of each street – essential for a quick reaction should the city fall under siege from water-bound invaders once more. Today’s modern translation equals a popularity with the yachting fraternity.

But by far the most opulent display of the Knights Hospitaller’s great power and wealth lies within Valetta’s main religious icon, St John’s Co-Cathedral. From the outside, this not too intimidating, simple yet austere limestone edifice betrays its opulent interior. But once beyond the pillared threshold, the visitor is rewarded with the view of incomparable riches from the height of the Baroque period, from the intricately gilded, jewel-encrusted walls of gold and ruby to the finely painted frescoes on the vaulted ceilings, all of which surely put the Sistine Chapel firmly in the shade. Clearly the Knights spent vast sums of money embellishing the lavish interior of their beloved shrine, which took nearly 10 years to build. But the piece-de-resistance was not to be found in the Cathedral’s magnificent main chapel; instead I discovered its most celebrated canvass, The Beheading of Saint John The Baptist, tucked away in the Oratory. This huge piece of artwork is the only signed portrait, and indeed one of the finest, painted by the Italian master, Caravaggio, who himself became a Knight in the Order during his controversial stay on the island in the years 1607 and 1608.

Following this auspicious start to the Maltese experience, such grand buildings were to become a familiar sight on my tour of this noble city. As Benjamin Disraeli said, upon visiting Valetta in 1830 on the recommendation of Lord Byron, it’s "a city of palaces built by gentlemen for gentlemen". Casa Rocca Piccola fits this exacting description, as one of the few remaining palaces still in residential use by its aristocratic family owners. Visitors arrive at a souvenir store frontage, only to be ushered into the small palazzo by a side-door, the entrance once again studiously avoiding any hint of the treasures inside. Twelve elegantly preserved, period drawing rooms containing many heirlooms (costumes, paintings, china and silverware) of the De Piro family present a glimpse of life in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. This is in marked contrast to the larger, more ostentatious Palazzo Parisio located in the village of Naxxar, in the centre of the island, whose grand façade was evident immediately. The palazzo’s al fresco restaurant, Caffe Luna, was the destination for lunch, where visitors sit, dine and admire one of the finest private ornamental gardens on the island. Dubbed the “mini Versailles”, the palace itself is nothing short of dazzling, with its reception rooms decorated with gilt and marble cameos and mouldings, resplendently topped with huge hanging chandeliers making it the perfect location for formal functions and social celebrations, as well as a stately home attraction in its own right.

Moving to a loftier situation, as the huge ochre sun slipped seamlessly into its daily descent, we stepped even further back in time to the citadel of the ancient capital of Malta, the Medieval walled city of Mdina. With cars prohibited in the narrow, dimly lit streets, there is little surprise to hear that the beautiful Norman and Baroque-designed Mdina is known as the “Silent City”. Walking in the cloaked darkness as night takes hold, with only the heritage streetlamps for company, indeed the silence and beauty of the place is compelling. With over 4,000 years of history, including Phoenician fortifications and important Roman settlements, before being re-fortified by the Knights of St John, no visit to Malta would be complete without a pilgrimage to this meticulously preserved, spotless, UNESCO world heritage city. To tickle the taste buds during the cultural assault, dinner was provided at the gourmet De Mondion Restaurant, one of Malta’s best restaurants. Situated on the rooftop of the 17th century palacio-turned-boutique hotel du jour, the Xara Palace Relais & Chateau, the restaurant combines the quintessence of fine European dining and arguably some of the best views of the whole island by day and night. The Xara Palace’s charming interiors, welcoming ambience and period décor synchronises perfectly with the history of the building, right down to its very foundations, which actually form part of the city-walls. More recently, the boutique hotel has become the temporary home for many a celebrity visitor, including Brad Pitt (Troy) and Russell Crowe (Gladiator), whose epic films were partly filmed on Maltese soil. Such starry associations have rewarded both the hotel and the island with heightened and renewed interest respectively - yet another sweetener to add to Malta’s glowing credentials. But such recent famous visitors are nothing new to the island, as it all started with the celebrated shipwrecking of the apostle, Paul, in AD60.

However, far more ancient icons loomed large the next day. I left Malta’s Crikewwa harbour early to embark upon the 30-minute sea-voyage to Mgarr, on the smaller island of Gozo, just 5km northwest of Malta. Here, the island archipelago’s history starts at an impressive 7,000 years ago, leaving me to ponder, whilst sea bound, upon the excitement of unravelling an even more mysterious past.

But first, mystery turned to mythology with Gozo considered the legendary home of the nymph, Calypso, daughter of the sky-burdened Titan, Atlas. In the Homeric epic, The Odyssey, Gozo is called Ogygia and it is here that the hero, Odysseus, is washed up on the island all alone (yet another shipwreck victim!) during his relentless quest to return home to Ithaca and his family following the Trojan War. The tale reveals that Calypso, overcome with desire, held Odysseus captive on the island for seven years and it wasn’t until Zeus sent his messenger god son, Hermes, to command that she release Odysseus from her seaside cave grotto that she allowed him to make his way back home once again. Upon viewing the tiny, cramped yet oddly serene cave conditions, with its fabulous views of the translucent sapphire seas just a few metres below, I couldn’t quite understand why Odysseus felt a little homesick. But fortunately my own Odyssey around the Maltese islands was far from over yet. Another gem to punctuate part of the 43km of Gozitan coastline is the 20m high Azure Window located in Dwejra, a spectacular piece of geological craftsmanship, which together with sheer cliffs and the striking rocky coastline have been sculpted from thousands of years of elemental erosion. Aside from the rock-tastic spectacle, many visitors are attracted to this coastal area for some of the finest diving to be found in the Mediterranean.

For those busy bees on the larger island of Malta, not to mention the most populated island in the Mediterranean, Gozo is the place to visit for some peace and quietude. The pace of life is distinctly slow and rustic with a feeling of a bygone era punctuated with plenty of space. But if you’re hankering for a bit of life, then head for the capital, Victoria, which is still referred to by its old Arabic name, Rabat. The capital of Gozo maintains a steep seat on its citadel, utilised both by the Phoenicians and the Romans before the Knights of St John capitalised on its position and fortified the city, whose walls still provides a jaw-dropping 360-degree panoramic view of the 10-by-5-mile island’s countryside. Turning one’s focus inwards towards the city itself, its prominent 17th-century Cathedral, tiny winding streets and the tree-lined Tokk square, providing the pulse of the city with its colourful market stalls and itinerant street-musicians, are all clearly visible. It was here that I bought my sweet, succulent jar of Maltese honey.

But before I had a chance to revel in its inviting elixir, it was time to confront the most ancient hives of civilization on Malta. In Xaghra, just outside Victoria, we came face to face with the megalithic il-Ggantija Temples. The Maltese Islands are home to a number of Neolithic temples and the Ggantija Temples of Gozo are by far the best preserved. Archaeologists have calculated that they were built around the third millennium BC (3600-3000BC), probably making them the oldest freestanding structures in the world, predating even the Great Pyramids of Giza. True to their name, the pair of temples, built side by side, certainly do not disappoint in their immensity or purpose. With the temples’ inner sanctum walls shaped to reflect the female hips, the ritual acts of fertility and reproductive powers is palpable to the imagination. These monumental sites of ancient worship are naturally UNESCO World Heritage-protected and have become the most visited historical site on the islands. Being over 5,500 years old, such ancient places would not be without their own mystic associations, and old Gozitan legend dictates that giants built these temples - hence the name Ggantija meaning “place of giants” or “giant’s tower”. Upon closer inspection, it is hard to believe that early humans could have single-handedly erected the huge slabs of stone that form the temples without the aid of modern technology or superhuman strength. But having meditated on their formation, it makes the emergence of the Ggantija Temples’ colourful aetiology a lot easier to appreciate. I wondered whether the ancient temples inspired the Knights of St John to sculpt Malta into the ultimate fortified island as well as founding Valetta to reflect their imposing magnificence with its huge city walls many centuries later.

As one of Europe’s best preserved and most picturesque cities, Malta’s grand capital, Valetta, notwithstanding sharing first-letter terms, can more than hold its bastion-clad weight against titanic city destinations: Venice, Vienna or Verona. And I am in good company: Benjamin Disraeli once declared that Valetta is “comparable to Venice and Cadiz…” and that it “equals in its noble architecture, if it does not excel, any capital in Europe". I’m certain that Valetta’s founder, Grandmaster Jean Parisot de la Valette had precisely that in mind when he built his humble yet proud city. The days of Malta as the quirky alternative to the Balearics are well and truly over. Built upon a setting of 7,000 years of history, seamlessly transporting visitors to more exotic centuries with a plethora of different urban and country attractions to visit, discerning travelers should take heed of Proust’s sage words and see the island for the jewel it really is: “the real voyage of discovery comes not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” Only three hours away from the UK and with an increasingly glamorous crowd in residence (leaving Hollywood behind, MTV hosted its summer party in Malta last year) sample the sweetness and warmth of Malta now as the autumn/winter city break season commences, before the secret is out and all culture vultures migrate to this hallowed honeypot!



Getting there

The author traveled with Air Malta (0845 607 3710; www.airmalta.com ), which flies from Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

More information

Malta Tourist Office: 0208 877 6990; www.visitmalta.com