Ten things you (probably) did not know about Malta

Malta was known as 'Melita' by the ancient Greeks and Romans. This means 'the island of honey'.

The Pharaoh Hound is the National Dog of Malta. In Maltese, the breed is known as Kelb tal-Fenek.

The University of Malta is the oldest university in the Commonwealth outside of Great Britain.

Malta puts on 75 villages feasts to honour local patron saints between June and September. The feast, or festa in Maltese, is a fabulous event with fireworks, bands and a religious procession.

The Knights of St. John of Jerusalem were given control of Malta in 1530 by Charles V of Spain.

Grand Master, Jean Parisot de la Valette, who gave Malta’s capital its name (Valletta) actually laid the first stone to the city in 1566.

The earliest evidence of human settlement in Malta dates back over 7,400 years and the Megalithic temples are the oldest free-standing stone structures in the world.

The highest point on the island of Malta is at Ta’ Dmejrek, some 253 metres above sea level.

The dome of the Mosta Dome, famously surviving a fallen bomb during WWII, is the third largest in Europe.

Maltese, or Malti, is an officially recognised EU language. Malta has been a Member State since 2004.