If you see cars driving on the left with the European license plate and the environment having a Mediterranean feel, then you are in Malta. The Maltese landscape is rather flat with not much tall vegetation or much of anything tall (until you get to a city). Malta and some other European owned islands have idiosyncratic rocky walls lining their roads. “Triq” means “street” in Maltese and therefore spotting this on signs indicates that you are in Malta. Maltese cities have narrow roads and a cream-like colour to most of their buildings. The letter ‘x’ appears frequently in the Maltese language. Malta also uses English. Malta and a number of other European islands stand out for their small, stoned walls. Streets in Maltese cities are narrow, often with high rise, old buildings that are the same creamish colour. A typical Maltese scene comprises little vegetation other than grass, fields of different colours, a rock wall and everything in the landscape being close to the ground. Every town in Malta has its own unique looking street name signs. In Malta, the cars drive on the left hand side of the road. The only other countries within Europe that drive on the left are the U.K. and Ireland. Malta looks much more Mediterranean than these places. Cars in Malta have a mixture of standard European plates and plates that are less elongated with a blue section in the upper-left corner.

The general landscape of Malta consists of slightly hilly dry agricultural fields. Many roads are also only 1 or 2 lanes wide, due to the island’s size. Having a mediterranean climate, cacti and various dry shrubs can be seen.

Limestone rock walls are extremely common in Malta.

The vast majority of buildings in Malta consist of low storey buildings, with white to beige coloured walls. Buildings made of limestone are also fairly common.

This style of traditional covered balconies is very common on Maltese buildings. They are often painted in bright colours.

The Maltese word for street is “triq”, which can be seen on almost every street sign.

Bus stops are a common sight in Malta. They may sometimes have useful information as to where you are.

Like the UK and Ireland, Malta uses these distinctive double yellow no parking lines.

English is the primary language of Malta.

Apart from English it is also common to see the Maltese language. Maltese uses the Latin script, but with unique letters, which include:

Ċ ċ

Ġ ġ

Ħ ħ

Ż ż