Gate of Fortified Wall in Mdina, Malta

Gate of Fortified Wall in Mdina, Malta

Fortified Wall in Mdina 2022

Malta has many fortified walls around towns and cities.  An impressive one is in Mdina. 

Malta is the only European country and only Roman Catholic country where the language is Semitic (related to Arabic and Hebrew). 

The language took hold when Arabic speakers colonized the island starting in 870 AD with the Emirate of Ifriqiya in Tunisia. Afterwards it fell under the rule of the Emirate of Sicily until the islands were conquered by the Normans in 1091.

So it’s not surprising that the name of the city of Mdina is quite similar to Medina, the second holiest city in Islam located in Saudi Arabia. Also, medina (non-capitalized) is the old Arab or non-European quarter of a North African town.

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Ed Hotchkiss
Ed Hotchkiss

My goal is to travel to all the United Nations list of 193 countries of the world. For the rest of my life, I want to see and experience as much of the world as possible, while documenting it in photographs and observations.

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