Malta

Exploring the chasm-like streets of Valleta's old town is a real experience. The sheer buildings are festooned with stone balconies, wooden shutters and a tangled web of telegraph wires.

Guarding the harbour are two gargantuan fortresses, St.Elmo and Ricasoli (which you may have seen graphically enhanced for Ridley Scott's Gladiator). If you're not looking up in Valletta, then you'll probably be looking down, at the tombstones of the Knights of the Order of St John in St John's Cathedral.

Strung between Sicily and Tunisia, the archipelago of Malta comprises of three major islands (Malta, Gozo and Comino). The inhabitants of these islands have inherited a culture that sits somewhere between European and North African.

Every church in Malta celebrates its patron saint with vigour. Fiestas spring up with near-pagan regularity, and usually entail a whirl of banners, parades and the gobbling of pastizzi, the ubiquitous savoury pastries.

As well as being a hotspot for history buffs and sun-worshippers (Gnejna beach is one of the best), New Age explorers pay homage to the well-endowed fertility goddesses, locally dubbed the Fat Ladies, found in mysterious temples dotting the serene island of Gozo.