Today’s Friday Photo celebrates Mdina, the ‘Silent City’ at the heart of the island of Malta in the Mediterranean. Occupied since ancient times, the town preserves many reminders of its previous inhabitants. Just outside the heavily fortified walls of the city, for example, lie the remains of a Roman villa–with its mosaic floors intact! Archaeologists also discovered a Muslim cemetery on the site, a reminder of the two centuries of Muslim occupation which left an indelible mark on the language (if not the religion) of the island. Later, the Normans were responsible for bolstering the town’s defences, raising walls and widening the moat. These would stand the Knights of St John in good stead when, in the 16th century, they defended Mdina from Ottoman expansion. Despite this turbulent history, Mdina today is a sleepy city, drenched in sunlight and blissfully lacking in cars.
mediaevalmusings
1,000 years of history in blog-sized bites.
The ‘drenched in sunlight’ part sounds especially good to me right now. This photo is a good example of how a single image, along with a bit of engaging text, can draw a person instantly into another world to be happily explored. Your Friday photos do it every time.
Thanks! I have to admit, a bit of Maltese weather would be lovely for me too right now! Have you ever been?
No, the closest I’ve been is central Italy. I’m really drawn to arid climates, though, and Malta has plenty of aridity along with all that art and history. My ideal: reading and thinking about the mist-enshrouded far north while listening to the cicadas and bees on a warm dry Mediterranean day. Malta would be fine.
Sounds like an amazing place – I have always wanted to visit Malta and this post has only increased that desire!
I couldn’t recommend it more! We went at Easter-time, which meant that the weather was lovely, but not too hot, and that all of the historical sites were deserted. Couldn’t ask for more!
One more place that I want to visit! Also, what’s the population now?
Within the walls, only about 300, but Mdina is surrounded by the much larger, modern town of Rabat, which is in the thousands (if not 10s of thousands)
Wonderful photo and text. Can’t wait to go there (somday).
Thanks; I hope you get there soon!