The Ettel travelogue

Mary, Ed, Erin and Allison are based in Atlanta but spend most of their time travelling around the world. They stopped in Malta during a Mediterranean tour in 2003. This is their diary entry for their stay in Malta:

We stopped at Malta, 120 miles from the African coast, where the Knights of Malta defeated the pesky Moors in 1566 and saved Europe from becoming an Islamic state. Megaliths here predate Egyptian pyramids and, like Corfu, Malta has been occupied by every empire since then. The fortifications are amazing, and the St John's Cathedral is 'over the top', with the floor completely covered with inlaid marble tombs of the Knights of Malta. St Paul was shipwrecked in Malta in 60AD, and wrote his letters from here. We visited St Paul's Shipwreck Church before returning to the ship.