I just got back from Malta and for anyone who cares to know what I
found here it is:

On approach to the Malta airport I could not believe my eyes. Europe is
similar but different than the US in look but Malta is totally exotic.
You have seen pictures of the Holy Land? This is how Malta looks - dry,
parched land with scrub bushes, crumbling walls and mud square houses.
Here's the scoop:

Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
culinary culture did not reach Malta. Food is "horrid" to "not really
good" and expensive (about 50% to twice as much as in Europe or the
US). Housing is cheap, half that of Europe and the US. You can get a
nice hotel for like US$20.00. I chose a luxury hotel with a price of
about $125.00 but it was not up to the standards of Europe or the US.
Food was terrible and bloody expensive.
The people - a mix of European and Arabic. All were very nice. No
crime. No agression.
Would I go back? No, the food sucks.

Hi

I'd just like to stick up for the food in Malta. You really need to know
where to eat when going here as you can just end up in average tourist
joints/cafes with crap pizzas etc, but if you look in a good guide book you
will find some great restaurants:

e.g.
Italiani's (in Sliema I recall)
Ta Marija's (Traditional Maltese food in Mosta)
Goldfinches (Best Pizzeria imho)
Also, the good I remember is very well priced. I don't understand why you
think it was expensive compared to the rest of Europe (hotel food??)

If you like cakes you can get some quality maltese style Figoli (almond cake
with icing), or a visit to the Pastizzi shops will allow you to have many
pastries/pasta snacks, all of which taste great. In fact, if you haven't had
a pastizzi (small ricotta filled pastry), you haven't experienced maltese
food.

Glad you had nice stay though (apart from the food)

Mike
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/bl...erie_music.htm
"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams"

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    >I just got back from Malta and for anyone who cares to know what I
    > found here it is:
    > On approach to the Malta airport I could not believe my eyes. Europe is
    > similar but different than the US in look but Malta is totally exotic.
    > You have seen pictures of the Holy Land? This is how Malta looks - dry,
    > parched land with scrub bushes, crumbling walls and mud square houses.
    > Here's the scoop:
    > Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
    > culinary culture did not reach Malta. Food is "horrid" to "not really
    > good" and expensive (about 50% to twice as much as in Europe or the
    > US). Housing is cheap, half that of Europe and the US. You can get a
    > nice hotel for like US$20.00. I chose a luxury hotel with a price of
    > about $125.00 but it was not up to the standards of Europe or the US.
    > Food was terrible and bloody expensive.
    > The people - a mix of European and Arabic. All were very nice. No
    > crime. No agression.
    > Would I go back? No, the food sucks.
    >

Where did you visit, and where did you eat? I ask that because I live
on Gozo, and can think of dozens of very nice restaurants across the
price spectrum, both here and on the main island.

And "...mud square houses"? Uhh...not quite...

Almost all the houses and building are plain square and made of some
type of beige stone or clay. I wrote mud but it's probably not mud.
They look like they could be mud, no?
Don't tell me about good reasonable food. I was all over and from the
coffee to the pizza (with egg on top) to the fish it all sucked. Prices
were way more than the US and Europe. You need to visit the coninent
and get some good tasting food.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...

<< Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
culinary culture did not reach Malta.>>

Could you be a bit more specific. Do the Maltese look and act like, for
example, the Swedes, Icelandics, Romanians, Basques, Croatians, Catalans or
which part of Europe takes your fancy.

Zichu wrote:
    > <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > << Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
    > culinary culture did not reach Malta.>>
    > Could you be a bit more specific. Do the Maltese look and act like, for
    > example, the Swedes, Icelandics, Romanians, Basques, Croatians, Catalans or
    > which part of Europe takes your fancy.

I was trying to get the point across briefly with out going into
detail. What I meant was the Maltese are much more European in general
than North African. It's much more culturally like Spain than it is
Tunisia (which is only 180 miles away).

    >>> Malta is culturally more European than North African
    >> Could you be a bit more specific.
    > I was trying to get the point across briefly with out going into
    > detail. What I meant was the Maltese are much more European in general
    > than North African. It's much more culturally like Spain than it is
    > Tunisia (which is only 180 miles away).

It reminded me of England more than anywhere else. Whitby with more
sunshine and gun emplacements. The food is basically 1940s NAAFI
cuisine. (Marion is gluten-intolerant - it's by far the hardest place
to eat gluten-free that we've been to, even the Czech Republic was
better).

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] oups.com...
    > I just got back from Malta and for anyone who cares to know what I
    > found here it is:
    > On approach to the Malta airport I could not believe my eyes. Europe is
    > similar but different than the US in look but Malta is totally exotic.
    > You have seen pictures of the Holy Land? This is how Malta looks - dry,
    > parched land with scrub bushes, crumbling walls and mud square houses.
    > Here's the scoop:
    > Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
    > culinary culture did not reach Malta. Food is "horrid" to "not really
    > good" and expensive (about 50% to twice as much as in Europe or the
    > US). Housing is cheap, half that of Europe and the US. You can get a
    > nice hotel for like US$20.00. I chose a luxury hotel with a price of
    > about $125.00 but it was not up to the standards of Europe or the US.
    > Food was terrible and bloody expensive.
    > The people - a mix of European and Arabic. All were very nice. No
    > crime. No agression.
    > Would I go back? No, the food sucks.

If you think Malta is exotic, I wonder where else you haven't been.
Historically and architecturally fascinating, yes.
Exotic? I must re-read the definition!

Surreyman
Hundreds of trivia quizzes on travel, geography, history and much more on
http://www.sploofus.com/?ref=surreyman

On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 10:09:16 GMT, "a.spencer3"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >If you think Malta is exotic, I wonder where else you haven't been.
    >Historically and architecturally fascinating, yes.
    >Exotic? I must re-read the definition!

Exotic means "foreign"
--
Martin

"Martin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 10:09:16 GMT, "a.spencer3"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >If you think Malta is exotic, I wonder where else you haven't been.
    > >Historically and architecturally fascinating, yes.
    > >Exotic? I must re-read the definition!
    > Exotic means "foreign"

So it does! Fair enough! :-))

Surreyman
Hundreds of trivia quizzes on travwel, geography, history and much more on
http://www.sploofus.com/?ref=surreyman

On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 10:15:41 GMT, "a.spencer3"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >"Martin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >news:[email protected].. .
    >> On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 10:09:16 GMT, "a.spencer3"
    >> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> >If you think Malta is exotic, I wonder where else you haven't been.
    >> >Historically and architecturally fascinating, yes.
    >> >Exotic? I must re-read the definition!
    >> Exotic means "foreign"
    >So it does! Fair enough! :-))

Exotic always conjures up more than that.

Malta is a hot version of Whitby???
--
Martin

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ups.com...
    > Zichu wrote:
    >> <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected] oups.com...
    >> << Malta is culturally more European than North African however the
    >> culinary culture did not reach Malta.>>
    >> Could you be a bit more specific. Do the Maltese look and act like, for
    >> example, the Swedes, Icelandics, Romanians, Basques, Croatians, Catalans
    >> or
    >> which part of Europe takes your fancy.
    > I was trying to get the point across briefly with out going into
    > detail. What I meant was the Maltese are much more European in general
    > than North African. It's much more culturally like Spain than it is
    > Tunisia (which is only 180 miles away).


Two points here:

1. The Maltese can't be like Europeans because there is no such breed. It is
more a political collective noun. Posters here from the New World often make
the same mistake which you are making in using "European" as a shorthand
label for a large and diverse collection of people with many different
racial characteristics. For example, Slavic people have nothing in common
with those of Celtic decent. There are very few freckled, red haired
Sicilians, Not all that many blonde, blue eyed Basques. Europe is not one
homogenous nation, although there are some here who are trying desperately,
and fortunately failing, to turn it into "One Size Fits All"

2. Many years ago Tunisia, or rather what now approximates to Tunisia, was
called Carthage. Despite the fairy story that it was founded by Dido and
Aeneas shortly after the Trojan war, it started as a trading outpost of the
Phoenicians and the language it's people spoke was Punic. (Latin Poenicus,
Punicus, from Poenus, a Carthaginian, from Greek Phoinix, Phoenician).
Spain, or the bottom half of it, was also a Phoenician colony having been
conquered by Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal.

Oddly enough, much of Malta's inheritance is in a direct line from the
Phoenicians too. I am sure you must have noticed the large "Hotel Phoenicia"
in Valletta by the bus station whilst you where there. It's name is no
accident. There is much common history between Malta, Spain and Tunisia.

"Many years ago Tunisia, or rather what now approximates to Tunisia,
was
called Carthage. Despite the fairy story that it was founded by Dido
and
Aeneas shortly after the Trojan war, it started as a trading outpost of
the
Phoenicians and the language it's people spoke was Punic. (Latin
Poenicus,
Punicus, from Poenus, a Carthaginian, from Greek Phoinix, Phoenician).
Spain, or the bottom half of it, was also a Phoenician colony having
been
conquered by Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal."

Carthage still exists today, as a pleasant suburb of Tunis with some
ancient ruins. The Punic city was so thoroughly sacked by the Romans
that almost everything that remains today is of Roman origin. There
isn't too much to see there right now, but they recently made a huge
find behind the Carthage Museum (this find is possibly the central part
of the ancient city), and when the excavations are complete it is
likely to be one of the greatest ancient sites in the world.

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ps.com...
    > "Many years ago Tunisia, or rather what now approximates to Tunisia,
    > was
    > called Carthage. Despite the fairy story that it was founded by Dido
    > and
    > Aeneas shortly after the Trojan war, it started as a trading outpost of
    > the
    > Phoenicians and the language it's people spoke was Punic. (Latin
    > Poenicus,
    > Punicus, from Poenus, a Carthaginian, from Greek Phoinix, Phoenician).
    > Spain, or the bottom half of it, was also a Phoenician colony having
    > been
    > conquered by Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal."
    > Carthage still exists today, as a pleasant suburb of Tunis with some
    > ancient ruins. The Punic city was so thoroughly sacked by the Romans
    > that almost everything that remains today is of Roman origin. There
    > isn't too much to see there right now, but they recently made a huge
    > find behind the Carthage Museum (this find is possibly the central part
    > of the ancient city), and when the excavations are complete it is
    > likely to be one of the greatest ancient sites in the world.

I thought Carthage was totally destroyed and the ground salted? So are the
new finds also Roman?
Meanwhile, there are other fabulous ancient sights in Tunisia while you
wait!

Surreyman
Hundreds of trivia quizzes on travel, geography, history and much more on
http://www.sploofus.com/?ref=surreyman

If you are interested, there is a series of books written by an Edinburgh
man, Ross Leckie. The three books are Hannibal, Scipio and Carthage. They
cover the second punic war from Hannibal's youth up to the complete
eradication of Carthage from the face of the earth and it's citizens sold
into slavery or killed by Rome.

They are historical novels based on known facts, although he has filled in
the blank bits with a lot of conjecture. I went to an event at the Edinburgh
book festival a while ago where he was reading from his last book and
talking about Hannibal. He admitted he got a bit fed up with sticking to the
facts in his later books because they got in the way of a good story but
they are quite a good read.


<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected] ps.com...
    > "Many years ago Tunisia, or rather what now approximates to Tunisia,
    > was
    > called Carthage. Despite the fairy story that it was founded by Dido
    > and
    > Aeneas shortly after the Trojan war, it started as a trading outpost of
    > the
    > Phoenicians and the language it's people spoke was Punic. (Latin
    > Poenicus,
    > Punicus, from Poenus, a Carthaginian, from Greek Phoinix, Phoenician).
    > Spain, or the bottom half of it, was also a Phoenician colony having
    > been
    > conquered by Hamilcar Barca, the father of Hannibal."
    > Carthage still exists today, as a pleasant suburb of Tunis with some
    > ancient ruins. The Punic city was so thoroughly sacked by the Romans
    > that almost everything that remains today is of Roman origin. There
    > isn't too much to see there right now, but they recently made a huge
    > find behind the Carthage Museum (this find is possibly the central part
    > of the ancient city), and when the excavations are complete it is
    > likely to be one of the greatest ancient sites in the world.
    >