Walking in Malta - Malta, Gozo and Comino

• Location
• Description
• Contents
• Introduction
• Sample Route
• Maps
• Updates

The Maltese Islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino bask in sunshine at the heart of the Mediterranean, between Europe and Africa, the Christian and Muslim world, on busy shipping lanes running north, south, east and west. Sicily is Malta’s nearest neighbour, followed by Tunisia and Libya. History has ensured that the islands have been colonised time and time again in the name of trade, warfare, politics and religion, leaving them with a colourful and complex history and heritage, defended by all kinds of fortifications. The islanders boast an inordinate pride in their recently-won independence, and summertime seems to be and endless round of festivals and fireworks. The Maltese Islands are a popular tourist destination, despite being heavily built-up. They offer plenty of historic walks, stunningly beautiful and dramatic architecture, and a surprising amount of excellent scenery away from the urban sprawl, especially around their cliff coastlines.

Location & Population

The islands of Malta, Gozo and Comino lie between 14º12’ to 14º25’E and 35º48’ to 36º05’N, approximately 95km (60 miles) south of Sicily and 290km (180 miles) from Tunisia and Libya. The combined surface area of the islands is only around 315km² (122 square miles); about the same as the Isle of Wight. The population is around 400,000, compared with around 30,000 for the Isle of Wight. Malta is in fact one of the most densely populated micro-states in the world, and there are over a million visiting tourists per year, mostly from sun-starved northern Europe!

Geology & Landscape

In simple terms, the Maltese Islands are part of the floor of the Mediterranean that has crumpled upwards as the continental plates carrying Africa and Europe slowly crushed together. The forces unleashed are evident further north around the hot-spot Sicilian volcanoes of Etna and Vesuvius, as well as in the occasional earthquakes that shake the area. These forces have buckled and broken the Maltese bedrock so that it is severed by a number of fault lines. However, the basic geology is fairly simple and the rocks seen on the island date only from the past 30 million years.

There are five main layers of rock that always occur in the same order, or succession. The bottom layer is a thick, hard bed of Lower Coralline Limestone. This is the most stable rock in the entire succession. On top of it lies a thick layer of softer Globigerina Limestone, which is reasonably durable, but crumbles easily when exposed to the weather. This rock can be cut to any shape and is found in buildings throughout the islands. Next up is a thick layer of Blue Clay, which crumbles easily wherever it is exposed, yet makes a particularly fertile soil. A thin layer of Greensand lies on top of the clay, which is often so easily weathered that it forms a pronounced notch on steep slopes. The top layer of rock on the islands is the Upper Coralline Limestone. This is a tough rock, but it can be very unstable where the lower layers of Greensand and Blue Clay are crumbling, so that huge boulders break off the cliff edges, and the cliffs themselves often feature deep and slowly widening fissures.

The underlying geology has a profound effect on the landscape of the Maltese Islands. Most of the sea cliffs of Malta are Lower Coralline Limestone, but much of the inland parts of eastern and central Malta are Globigerina Limestone. The higher western and northern parts of Malta are Upper Coralline Limestone. The sea cliffs around the north and west feature crumbling slopes of Blue Clay, so that the overlying Upper Coralline Limestone is often dramatically fissured and drops massive heaps of huge boulders onto seaward slopes. Due to faulting, the island of Comino sits lower than Malta and Gozo, so that only the Upper Coralline Limestone is exposed.

Gozo’s sea cliffs are mostly Lower Coralline Limestone, but large parts of the interior are Globigerina Limestone. However, there are a series of hills dotted all over the island, which are all capped by Upper Coralline Limestone supported by crumbling slopes of Blue Clay. If you always bear in mind the basic succession of five rock types, then you will quickly come to expect certain types of landscape as you explore the islands on foot.

Perhaps the best way to understand more about the geology of the islands is to visit The Limestone Heritage on the outskirts of Siggiewi. This is located in an old Globigerina Limestone quarry and the site includes notes about the succession of rock types around the Maltese Islands. The Globigerina Limestone is also termed ‘softstone’ (or ‘zonqor’ in Maltese). The Upper and Lower Coralline Limestones are known as ‘hardstone’ (or ‘franka’ in Maltese).

The preponderance of limestone around the Maltese Islands is quite evident on the surface. The landscape is criss-crossed with rubble walls, active and inactive quarries can be seen, limestone pavements abound, and with diligent searches, all kinds of caves can be discovered. Many of the caves have been used for burials and as dwellings over the centuries. Some have been enlarged, and occasionally new caves are discovered during construction work.

Discovery & History

Malta’s long and convoluted history could easily fill several volumes and still leave much unsaid. In fact, the earliest settlement of the islands is shrouded in doubt and the political wranglings concerning the past two or three thousand years of Maltese history are often open to all kinds of interpretation. Serious students of Maltese history could devote their lives to the subject, while casual visitors to the islands will be happy to accept a condensed version. The key events in Maltese history are listed in Appendix I for easy reference.

In fact, the earliest settlement of the islands is shrouded in doubt, but by 5200BC neolithic peoples were living there as subsistence farmers. Remains of temples and defensive settlements are evidence of the development of later complex societies on the islands. In 800BC Malta came under Phoenician rule. The islands were then conquered by the Carthaginians and later the Romans, then became part of the Byzantine Empire before they were once again invaded and came under Arab rule in 870AD.

During the Medieval period the islands were ruled successively by the Normans, Swabians and Angevins; then, after a period under the kings of Aragon, Malta came under Spanish rule in 1479. The Knights of St John came to the islands in 1530 and excercised considerable influence until they were expelled by Napoleon at the end of the 18th century. The French were in turn ousted in 1800 by the British, who ruled Malta until the island gained its indepence in 1964. More recently, the island joined the European Union in 2003.

The historical background to some events is given in the walking route descriptions, and more information may be available visitor centres. A handy and eminently pocketable digest of Maltese history is The Story of Malta by Brian Blouet, published by Progress Press. Maltese bookshops are treasure-troves of history books if you wish to immerse yourself in the subject.