When planning our next vacation for myself, Adrian, and John, we had numerous criteria to reconcile. For John, I needed to find countries that he had not previously visited. Adrian required at least three new world-heritage sites. And I wanted a relaxing break by the sea.

After vigorous debate, a fortnight in the UAE and Oman was narrowly beaten by a two weeks in Malta and Cyprus. This first week we are staying in a small hotel in St Julian’s Bay in Malta, overlooking a small harbour with multi-coloured wooden boats. It is such a luxury to unpack and know that I don’t have to look at my suitcase for another six days.

For our first two days we explored Valletta, the world-heritage listed city that is Europe’s geographically smallest capital. One of the homes of the Knights of St. John, later known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, we were able to experience some of the opulence of their reign by visiting their co-cathedral and state rooms. St John’s Co-Cathedral is lavishly decorated with baroque paintings, marble monuments to the Grand Masters, and intricate marble tombstones of important knights.

The former Grand Master’s Palace was also quite grand. I loved the long hallways decorated with suits of armour, and the lush sitting and dining rooms for receiving guests. They also had parade armour on display, and the outfits for the horses had little horns so that they could play at being unicorns.

We also experienced the exile of the Knights of Malta by Napoleon in a re-enactment filled with exploding canons and loud muskets, set in the heart of Fort St Elmo. The drama followed the rule of Malta from the Knights of St. John to the French to the British. The costumes were fantastic, especially the French, with their barber-striped pantaloons and leopard-print Mohawk helmets.

The Palais de Justice (law court) looms over our horizon. It was finished in 1883 and was the biggest building constructed in the 19th century. Whole neighbourhoods were demolished, and to this day the term “Skieven Architek” (crooked architect) is an insult in the local Marolles dialect.

It is a terrible design for a law court – so big that the accused can escape easily and hide in the hundreds of empty and deserted rooms. The cost of renovations is astronomical, and the scaffolding is so old that soon it too will require maintenance.

There is currently a competition for future uses of the Palais de Justice, such as a stadium or a hotel. Part of the building will retain its judicial function, and the plans for the rest will be announced next year.

I arrived in Europe with almost no knowledge of world history. While walking through Leuven, I noticed that a bunch of buildings contained identical stones that said “1914″, with some strange symbols on them. It looked like a bushel of wheat or something. A bumper crop year? Adrian had to sit down with me and explain that in that year, most of Leuven had been destroyed by the Germans in World War I. The buildings that were subsequently rebuilt all integrated this stone into their facades, in memory of the destruction.