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As a child I used to collectstamps and old coins. Mygranddad had hugecollections of both, andtaught me a lot aboutthem. Before long I had myown respectable collection,including some stamps fromMalta. But my favouriteswere the Maltese coins,with octagonal anddecagonal specimens, whichmade them special in myeyes. I still remember how Ihad exchanged my UScoins for the Maltese oneswith my friend Boris. Inthat same year, my familyand I went on holiday toAustria, where we visitedthe Maltatal valley. At thetime it looked like arainforest to me. From thenon, my childish imaginationstarted associating Malta
with thick forestry andhuge waterfalls, exoticcoins and rare stamps. Thatwas Malta for me, as a ten-year-old.
When I travelled to Maltaand Gozo for the first timein 1987, I immediately gotmy hands on a five centpiece. A picture of a crabwas on the coin and sinceCancer is my star-sign I leta friendly Maltese
locksmith drill a holethrough it so that I couldwear it as a pendant. I stillhave this pendant today.
I was not disappointedwhen I found out thatthere weren’t anyrainforests or waterfalls onthe Maltese archipelago,because by then I hadalready travelled a lot, justlike I had dreamed ofdoing when I collected
stamps and coins as achild. And through mytravels I had even grown tolove the barren landscapes.
After my first day inMalta I had already decidedthat I wanted to exploreevery imaginable corner.These were small islandsand therefore uncovering alltheir mysteries had to bepossible. I rented a car,drove to a specific placeeach time, and then made amiles-long roundabout touruntil I was back at my car.I had always hiked a lotwith my family, and inMalta I re-discovered thatpassion. I walked frommorning to evening, oftenwithout any interruptions,almost like someonepossessed. A Maltese friendthought I was exaggeratingwhen I told him that I hadonce walked fromSt Julian’s to Marsaxlokk.
In those days I used moreordinary paths, mostlyroads, or went along thecoastline. I have fondmemories of how one couldwalk from Msida toPembroke with hardlyhaving to leave the coast.These days that has becomequite impossible, withhotels everywhere.
Police Station – Blue Grotto 1993
Xemxija view
EVERYLITTLEPATHANKE JABLINSKI a German travel writerfrom Berlin, fell in love with Malta duringher first visit in 1987. Since then, she has
been back. And back. And back...
Xemxija 1987
FIRST JULY 2011
42
TRAVEL ACTION & LIVING
Anke Jablinski
FIRST JULY 2011
43
On mysecond trip I was hooked,and my plan to get toknow Malta, Gozo andComino began to takeshape. I didn’t just want toget to know every place, Iwanted to get to knowevery single patch of land.With Malta and Gozo itwas love at firstsight, which then gave methe determination to writethe book ZufluchtsortMalta. I wanted to get toknow every path no matterhow small, and to get ridof the cliché that there isno point hiking anywhereother than on Dingli Cliffs.My first goal was to circlethe island along the coastin sections. That proved tobe more difficult thanexpected but stillpossible, and I anywayliked climbing. RTO-signs and hunters were aproblem, as were hotelsand private landowners.I had to find the shortest
possiblealternative routes and alsobe cautious.
After a number ofjourneys to Malta in the80s and 90s I started toknow Malta quite well. Ihad travelled a lot on footand by car and felt athome when I came. Ididn’t foresee then that itwould take me 50 visits toget as close as possible tomy goal of knowing everypath. By then I alreadycalled my Malta travels my“every-little-path-project”.I am certain there are still
some paths, byways androads that I don’t know.But I did what I could,and I can say that Iexplored Malta, Gozo andComino as well as humanlypossible. I do not think itis possible to have donemore.
Already during the firstsection of my journey (thecoastal tour) I encounteredareas that I had neverfound in any of the manybooks I had read aboutMalta. Hiking along thecoast of the island can bebriefly described as: cliffs-towers-salt pans. But thereare a lot more interestingand attractive things. Forexample when I think of
Gozo, the uniqueincisions of ReqqaPoint, Pinu Point andMgarr ix-Xini come tomind. A hike along thecoastal cliffs fromXlendi to Mgarr ix-Xinioffers breathtakingviews of Comino andMalta. It was hard to getfrom Dwejra Point toHekka Point, but inspringtime I wasrewarded by soft, lushmeadows. Hiking fromHondoq to Xatt L-Ahmar,again regaled me withwonderful views ofComino. My beloved GozoI have pretty muchcompletely walked throughand through, but there tooI needed 50 journeys.
I also did not relinquishthe opportunity to exploreall the towers I cameacross along the coastline.The coastal path in theeast of Malta, from FortSt Rocco over Xghajra toZonqor Point was alsopleasant. In those daysthere were fewerinterruptions when Ihiked from Mistra Bay toMellieha or along thecoast of Sliema and Tigné,to Ta’Xbiex. AtTigné there used to bepretty old houses fromcolonial times.
Hiking around Delimaraand Xrobb l-Ghagin orwalking down the coastsouth of Hal Far Airfieldbecame an adventure.Farmers and hunters who Iencountered often didn’tbelieve where I came fromand where I was heading.�
AFTER MY FIRST DAY IN MALTAI HAD ALREADY DECIDED
THAT I WANTED TO EXPLOREEVERY IMAGINABLE CORNER
One of Malta's valleys
Anke at Chadwick Lakes
The way back oftenbordered on torture in thesummer months, since thenecessary return to my carat the end of the daywould have come after atrip during which I wouldcarry, and drink, as muchas six litres of water. Imostly postponed thereally long walks to thewinter months.
The second part of myplan was the towns. Here Icould communicate inEnglish again, since in the
countryside my
newly-learnt, modestMaltese had to undergo ahard test. I drove aroundby car to get to know theregion where larger citieslike Birkirkara, Hamrunand Qormi dissolve intoeach other. Here my walkswere just strolls of one totwo hours with nice breaksin a café, bar or restaurant.It became more interestingin little towns and villageswere I saw many thingsthat I would have neverseen if I hadn’t done my‘project’. From this pointonwards I only organisedmy accommodation inplaces that I really wanted
to explore. Hence I lived inQrendi for a better look atZurrieq, Bubaqra, Safi,Mqabba and Kirkop, or inMarsascala to get a properlook at that area. I did thesame in Gozo. I stayed inGharb to explore the west,in Xlendi or Ta’ Cenc whenI explored the south, inQbajjar and inGhajnsielem for the northand east respectively.
The third part of myplan was perhaps thenicest, since I explored thelandscape of the innerisland. It was fascinating
to find that
it had still so much to offerthat I had never seenbefore. I was particularlyenchanted by smallchurches and chapels: someof them built into cliffs,
others were real cave-churches, while others hadold paintings to marvel at.Hence I discoveredIl-Maqluba, Hal-Millieri,Kuncizzioni church, SantaMaria ta’ Bir Miftuh andSan Dimitri in Gozo, andthe cave-churches inMellieha and San Gwann.Since my main historicalinterest were Malta’stemples, I found out wherethere were the lesserknown temple ruins orwhere temples whereexpected to be. Kordinprovided an unpleasantexperience where students
threw
stones at my companionand I while we looked atsome of these ruins.
Whether on Gozo,between Santa Lucija andSan Lawrenz or down the
Victoria/ Dwejra Lines onMalta, the landscape wasunbelievably beautiful, asis the area west of theChadwick Lakes, with itsmany interesting facetssuch as hills, partly hiddenchapels and even a smallwaterfall.
Since I had gone for longwalks inside Mdina severaltimes, I started exploringthe area around the silentcity and after that the areaof the hinterland ofRabat, the Girgenti Valleyand Laferla Cross and thearea around Siggiewi,where I once gotcompletely lost after dark
(later it turnedout that I hadwalked aroundin circles forhours). I alsoexploredValletta and the‘three cities’ onfoot often andthoroughly, butthen I wanted toexplore theoutback theretoo and foundsmall places likeBidni and SanLeonardo.
A lot haschanged in thetwenty four yearssince I first visitedthe archipelago. Iam certain I willstill find a littletreasure here andthere, and there isone that Idefinitely don’tknow yet : Filfla!Since I have givenmany areas special,personal nicknames,Filfla wouldprobably becomeArea of Birds, one
last squiggle on one of mymany maps of Malta.
You may think that withall my hiking aroundMalta, I don’t have timefor collecting anymore. Infact, I do, though not coinsand stamps. Thosecollections have beenreplaced by, you’ll bepleased to know: animpressive collection ofMalta maps!
Anke has her own website:www.ankejablinski.de andis also on Facebook.
FIRST JULY 2011
44
TRAVEL ACTION & LIVING
I WAS PARTICULARLY ENCHANTEDBY SMALL CHURCHES AND
CHAPELS, SOME OF THEM BUILTINTO CLIFFS, OTHERS WERE REALCAVE-CHURCHES, WHILE OTHERS
HAD OLD PAINTINGS TO MARVEL AT
Laferla Cross area
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