The heartbeat of Malta

Nick Redmayne of The Telegraph is 'swiftly conquered' by the historical and cultural charm of Valletta:

Mention Malta at a dinner party and eyes glaze over. Associations with mass tourism are ingrained – either as a fly-and-bop-till-you-drop centre for clubbers or a winter haunt for retired couples. It's true that despite the island's steadfast defiance in the face of Ottoman armies and the Luftwaffe, a later invasion of mass-market tourism did indeed make an unopposed landfall elsewhere in Malta. However, Valletta's bastions have endured and the city remains unconquered, a surprise of Baroque delight characterised by history, architecture and fine art..

It's November now and Valletta is enjoying "the summer of St Martin", twinkling morning light playing over the Triton Fountain. A benign mêlée of bright yellow charabancs of a certain age, all polished and sporting such proud epithets as "Leyland", "Perkins" and, reassuringly, "Old But Strong", patrol the city gate. Inside, Valletta measures about 600 by 900 metres, the EU's smallest capital, enclosing a resident population of only 6,500.

My first daylight impressions are of ornate limestone façades fronting six or seven-storey buildings, enclosed balconies and occasional open walkways peopled by those in need of a smoke. At ground level, shopfront signs (Muscat, Pace, Luigi) reveal Arabic and Italian influences – Maltese is close to colloquial Arab dialect, and Sicily is just 90 minutes away by ferry...