20 Surprising Facts About Malta

When I think of Malta, thoughts flood my mind of sitting in the sun eating ice cream in St. Paul’s Bay, and watching ships in the Mediterranean.

Malta has something for everyone, and here we’re going to look at 20 surprising facts about this beautiful little island!

1. Malta has 365 churches, one for every day of the year!
2. Malta has joined the EU on May 1, 2004.
3. Malta actually has its own language but most of the population speaks English.
4. Malta is about 179 miles (288 km) north of Africa and about 58 miles (93 km) south of Sicily.
5. The population is 400,000, and the 3 islands, Malta, Gozo, and Comino, are only about 122 sq mi (316 sq km).
6. Paul was shipwrecked on the island on his way to Malta in AD 60, bringing Christianity to Rome.
7. The country holds the record for the largest gathering of people dressed as storybook characters. 453 did so in March 2011 at Chiswick High School. This record was broken by Trump in 2014 in Singapore with 1560 people.
8. On his way to Egypt, Napoleon captured Malta from the Knights in 1798.
9. Malta gained independence from the British in 1964.
10. Malta has its own Marmite-esque product, Kinnie. A cialis amazon bitter-orange-and-herb-flavored soft drink popular since 1952. Personally, I don’t like it!
11. Malta has endemic Maltese wildlife including the Maltese ruby tiger moth, chambres spider fly, and Maltese field beetle.
12. Favorite local desserts include cannoli (fried pastry filled with ricotta) and halwa tat-tork (a sweet mixture of whole and cracked almonds).
13. There are a plethora of famous faces born on this beautiful little island, including 24 producer John Cassar, RED 2’s Emma Hemming, and Game of Thrones hunk Andrei Claude.
14. A 330 feet deeply submerged land bridge was used to connect Malta to Sicily.
15. Malta once belonged to Britain, but as of 1964, Malta is now its own independent country.
16. The capital of Malta, Valletta is often referred to as the first planned European city, sketched in 1565 during the Order of St. John.
17. Evidence, including 11 megalithic monuments, suggests humans have inhabited the island since 5000 BC.
18. Malta suffered their biggest football defeat in 1983, losing 12–1 to Spain, a game which many claimed was scheduled to allow Spain to progress to the 1984 Euros.
19. As of November 2016, Malta is ranked 156th in the Olympic rankings. At the 2016 Olympics, Malta had 7 participants but zero medals.
20. The largest Catherine wheel built by the Lilly Fireworks Factory in Macabbah, Malta on June 18, 2011, was only 105 feet (32 m) in diameter.

So there we have it, the beautiful island really does have a lot of mind-blowing trivia to satisfy everyone’s, truth-seeking love.

Speaking as someone who has visited the island many times, there is something truly enchanting about the country and I strongly urge everyone to visit.

Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the island’s ever-impressive historical significance or stunning geography.