Malta THEN AND NOW
It’s been affectionately nicknamed ‘The Silent City’. Mdina, a hilltop stronghold that was once the capital of Malta, more than deserves its title: the only sound is the languorous trot of the dozen or so horses carting traditional Maltese karozzin carriages along the cobblestone streets echoing against the city’s honey-coloured palazzos and narrow passageways.
Cars are all but forbidden within the fortified walls and with a population of less than 300 – descendants of Sicilian, Norman and Spanish overlords and 12th-century aristocrats – it has a peculiar tranquillity that doesn’t belong in our time.
