Rock crystal

Writing in The New Zealand Herald, Bret Atkinson says trotting is 'a big sport on Malta, and horses and sulkies share the road with old British cars such as Ford Cortinas and Minis':

..It feels like we're in an episode of a 1970s BBC cop show, but at Marsaxlokk we rediscover we're in the Mediterranean. The waterfront, against a background of colourful fishing boats, is a riot of fish vendors, fruit and veg sellers, and stalls selling a Euro-tat mix of cheap shoes and even cheaper clothes.

The sales pitches are all delivered in the Malti dialect, sounding like Arabic or Hebrew with an Italian accent, and peppered with English phrases such as "Orwight?" that could came straight from EastEnders...Taking a horse and carriage around the 16th-century cityscape of Valletta, we're introduced to Maggie, an equine performer which shared the Hollywood limelight with Brad Pitt in Troy and Oliver Reed in Gladiator.

Maggie's human other half, Albert, has also met a few big stars, but reckons some of them are "greedy and rude". He's much happier cajoling Maggie around the fortified ramparts built by the Knights of the Order of St John. Valletta's main shopping street still feels anchored in its British colonial past, albeit tinged with a Latin influence...Shopfronts straight from the 1930s merge with His Master's Voice signs from the 1950s.

Gelato stands and pastry shops are decades-old neighbours in centuries-old buildings, and narrow lanes have tiny cafes with barely enough room for vintage espresso machines. Alleys are trimmed with overhanging carved windows, flowerboxes and washing hanging out to dry...