4 nights from £475
Key VJV Features
| • VJV Special Event • VJV Sightseeing Programme • No Single Supplement • Historic Hotel Options • Extension Options • Upgraded Flight Option • Regional Flights • Walking Content: 2 • Group Size: 4 – 25 |
Although known perhaps as a holiday island, Malta’s focal position in the Mediterranean and historic associations have created a fascinating heritage. Equidistant between Spain and the Holy Land, Malta has been coveted throughout its long history with the first settlers arriving from Sicily around 5300 BC. Phoenicians, ancient Greeks, Romans and Arabs each followed in time leaving their mark.
Malta is today an independent EU country, but with a special link to the UK after the island received the George Cross, the highest award for civil bravery, in 1942 in the Second World War.
The Knights Hospitallers were a religious order in the
Holy Land at the time of the Crusades, formed to care for the wounded and fight the Muslims, building refuges and forts such as Crac des Chevaliers. Following eviction from the Holy Land, the Grand Master acquired Rhodes as a base until the Ottomans drove them out. Charles of Spain gave them Malta, from which they managed to repel the Ottomans in the Great Siege. Grand Master La Valette gave his name to the capital, Valletta, and the massive fortifications date from this era, whilst the Grand Masters took their oath in Mdina, the ‘silent city’ in the centre of the island. After 268 years Napoleon expelled the Grand Master and his Knights, with parts of the order moving to Russia and Rome and still surviving in various derivatives such as St. John Ambulance.
VJV Special Event - Casa Bernard
A guided visit to Casa Bernard, a 16th-century mansion that is still a private home, with period furniture and art collection.
