YAS! Malta’s Victoria Lines, more commonly dubbed has The Great Wall of Malta, has been featured by BBC Travel, who had some fab things to say about this gorgeous location.
“Across the northern portion of the isle of Malta is a spectacular defensive line which has incredibly lain abandoned for decades,” says writer Adam Alexander. The wall was strategically built on the edge of a natural fault and “spans the entire width of Malta, some 12km from Fomm ir-Rih in the west to Madliena in the east. But unlike the stately Grand Harbour of Valletta or imposing medieval town of Mdina, few will have ever heard of the Victoria Lines, let alone seen them.”
Adam spoke to Helen Jones Florio, long-time resident on our island and a keen rambler who had no idea this fault existed until she walked the entire length recently. “What a revelation, to find so much nature and tranquillity,” she says.
The Victoria Lines, named after Britain’s Queen Victoria and built in the same year of her jubilee, were designed to link detached forts to provide one long one. Britain was worried, however, that some other country (namely France and Italy) would attempt to hijack the island – a vital base in the Med.
“But it was the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 which allowed European powers to access their territories in India and Asia without circumnavigating Africa, that was probably the most significant factor behind the building of the Victoria Lines. With more and more ships traversing the Mediterranean Sea, Britain’s stronghold on Malta became increasingly strategically important,” Adam writes. The Lines were inaugurated in 1897, but never saw battle and are mostly intact till this day.
This historic spot is about to become more popular as the Malta Tourism Authority has plans to introduce trails for visitors wanting to explore this gem, and “the designation of the nation’s first national walkway, which will lead hikers along the historical battlement.”
Have you visited these historical lines?