There’s a particular thrill in the moment you realise a place is about to reveal more than you dared dream it would. Malta has that effect. Duck beneath the surface at the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum and you’re standing in temples carved from limestone before the pyramids of Giza existed, the kind of discovery that makes you want to run your hand along the walls just to feel the age of the thing.
Wander into Valletta and honey-gold fortifications rise up around you like…

