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Are there really no Maltese dogs in the Maltese Islands?

The Maltese Islands are the birthplace of the Maltese dog, an adorable creature with gorgeous eyelashes and pure white fluffy hair like a stuffed animal. Do the islanders of Malta love Maltese dogs and is it a sort of Maltese dog heaven? Hmm, searching the net reveals little information on Maltese dogs in Malta. They are not mentioned at all in the guide book. On the tenth trip of the Domain Island Tour, I visited Malta to check the situation of the Maltese dogs there. The ccTLDs (country code top level domain) for Malta are “.mt”, and “.com.mt”.

＜＜Table of Contents＞＞
◆Cat Village!? I Went to See “Cat Village”
◆Asking the Maltese People “Which Dog do you Like Best?”
◆At Long Last, a Maltese Dog
◆If You Think this is Just a Resort Area, You are Much Mistaken! Malta, a Leader in Cryptocurrency
◆Interesting Things on Malta
◆How to Purchase a SIM & Test the Internet Speed
◆Similarities between the “.mt” domain and Maltese dogs

The Republic of Malta is located in the south of Italy, in the Mediterranean Sea, it has a temperate climate and the people of Europe like to vacation in Malta.

◆Cat Village!? I Went to See “Cat Village”

Although small dogs called “Maltese” originated in the Republic of Malta, it is full of cats and now very famous as a “Cat Island.” Some tourists come to see the cats. On the map of Malta, there is even a place called the “Cat Village”. Is Malta a cat place not a dog place? Since there is no information about Maltese dogs, I went to the Cat Village.

A sign for Cat Village. Will the Cat Village be surrounded by, and full of cats? Sounds irresistible.

Cat Village. I am welcomed by a cat sitting on a scooter bike.

There are plenty of stuffed animals, it’s like a fairy tale. However, I cannot find enough cats to call it a village …. Wait a minute, maybe they are all just out doing cat errands.

There seem to be more people than cats.

Finally found some! Aww, pretty cute ☆ blending in with the other people handing out treats, I also pass out popular treats from Japan.

Yummy kitty

That looks so yummy, kitty

Hey, sneaky kitty

With the number of cats so few, I was wondering if this could really be called a Cat Village? but actually it functions as a shelter and there is a sign asking for money and food.

Cats can be seen everywhere on Malta, in fact, there are about 700,000 cats living there, more than the human population.
If you like cats, this is an island you must visit at least once.

◆ Asking the Maltese People “Which Dog do you Like Best?”

“Do you know of any Maltese dogs here on Malta?” I asked local dog owners. Also, to find out the present status of the Maltese dog in Malta, I showed them pictures of Toy poodles, Maltese, Akita dogs, and Golden Retrievers in order to find out which dog people like best.

Local people who cooperated with this survey.

A friendly family in Malta also helped out.

A gallant German shepherd. Dog lovers having a tea together.

Here are the survey results. Rather than the little Maltese dog, big dogs were popular… The Japanese Akita and the Golden Retriever were tied in first place. Maybe this is due to influence of the world-renowned Alina Zagitova? As a Japanese person, I’m happy. Or is it because on Malta, these dogs are even more rare than the Maltese dog? Well, I couldn’t get any information on anyone keeping Maltese dogs.

Next, when I asked at the hotel if there are pet shops that sell Maltese dogs, they told me that there are places that sell pet food, but no places that sell dogs. Pet shops on Malta are places that care for animals and look for foster homes for them. I found a pet shop called the MSPCA but they are only open every Wednesday. Besides that, they told me the sad fact that there are no Maltese breeders on Malta.

◆ At Long Last, a Maltese Dog

The next day, I went out by bus to renew my investigation, I chose the morning walk time to catch dog owners, but I had a hard time finding a Maltese dog. Other kinds of dogs going for walks.

Where did you come from doggy?

Doggy likes the wind

A tired doggy…

After about 5 hours of walking I finally found a small white dog.

It had just come out for a walk. A Maltese dog kept by an elegant lady.

His name is Max.

Unfortunately, he comes from Serbia and not from Malta.
In the end I only met this one Maltese dog. Currently there seems to be very few people with Maltese dogs on Malta Island.

◆If You Think this is Just a Resort Area, You are Much Mistaken! Malta, a Leader in Cryptocurrency

Close to Europe, with beautiful nature and a temperate Mediterranean climate, Malta is popular as a luxury resort. Many tourists visit from Japan, some for their honeymoon, others as exchange students. If you search the net for Malta, only sightseeing information will appear on the top page. However, many cryptocurrency-related companies have moved to Malta recently.

This is why:

①It’s a country that encourages the use of cryptocurrency

②They have progressive laws that are favorable to cryptocurrency

③With low tax rates Malta is a kind of tax haven, and it has a preferential tax system for foreigners.

Especially since the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) started regulating these things, it’s quite well known that the biggest crypto exchange company “Binance” left Hong Kong and moved to Malta. Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat posted some heated tweets after the opening of Binance’s Malta office.

Incidentally, a Maltese lady journalist who was investigating allegations of slush funds around Prime Minister Muscat, was killed when a bomb exploded in her car while she was driving in northern Malta.
This was also a hot topic in Malta.

（※AFPBB News）

 

Views near Hilton Hotel

Descending to the bottom it seems like a theme park.

Descending to the bottom it seems like a theme park. #theta360 – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA

 

<blockquote data-width=”500″ data-height=”375″ class=”ricoh-theta-spherical-image” >Descending to the bottom it seems like a theme park. #theta360 – <a href=”https://theta360.com/s/aRcI3fOpRJmMIwM9zLPkkaAYW” target=”_blank”>Spherical Image – RICOH THETA</a></blockquote>

<script async src=”https://theta360.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

 

The harbor is full of pleasure boats costing over 30 million yen. Are they owned by rich people who made profits from cryptocurrency?

A real estate company has a lot of expensive property information posted. Payment is in bitcoins only, and it seems a condo in the capital city of Valletta is selling for about 400 million yen.（※Coin Choice）。

◆ Interesting Things on Malta

  • Maltese Cuisine

・The Number 1 Food Recommended by the Malta Tourism Authority is “Sea Urchin”

Here are the “10 Foods You Must Eat” if you come to Malta, according to the Malta Tourism Authority. Number 1. is “sea urchin.” How could I not eat the food recommend as Number 1 by the Tourism Authority?!

I ordered sea urchin pasta (16.50 €) at the Il Ponte Restaurant. The sea urchin sauce was rich and flavorful.

Actually, I went to some restaurants where you could get sea urchin, according to the restaurant guide provided by the Malta Tourism Authority, only to be told that it was no longer on the menu. You need to be careful about trusting information on the internet these days.

・Calamari fritto

If you come to Malta, I recommend the seafood. Especially, please try the calamari fritto (squid: 15 €).

・Rabbit dishes

Speaking of Maltese’s specialties, there’s rabbit… For Japanese people, this seems a bit cruel, but in fact, there are a lot of countries that eat rabbit. Tastes like chicken.

・Bragioli　

Stuffed beef rolls stewed with vegetables with tomato sauce.

・ Maltese bread

It often comes complimentary with your meal. Eaten with a mixture of olive oil, salt pepper and balsamic vinegar.

・Aperol (oranges and herbs blended into a sparkling liqueur)

・Cisk Lager Beer (beer with low alcohol content, 4.2%)

 

Called “The Ideal City of the Renaissance” Valletta is a beautiful fortified city registered as a World Heritage Site. Build by the Knights Hospitaller, the buildings are made of honey colored limestone.

Night view of World Heritage Valletta.

 

The streets of Valletta also had cats.

◆How to Purchase a SIM & Test the Internet Speed

There is a Vodafone shop in the Malta International Airport, so you can purchase local SIM. It was 20€ for 2GB.

Rest assured, you can ask the staff to help you set up the SIM.

 

I checked the internet speed at fast.com. The speed was 15Mbps and I could use the internet without any problem.

 

◆Similarities between the “.mt” domain and Maltese dogs

The country code domains for Malta are “.mt”, and “.com.mt”. I searched for them in town.

 

publictransport.com.mt　Bus tickets

 

nextbike.com.mt　Bicycle rental company

 

Teatrumanoel.com.mt　One of the top 15 most spectacular theaters in the world.

 

dizz.com.mt　Clothing company

On the other hand, many were using the word “malta” in a second level domain name, like malta.com.

Contrary to my expectations, and like the Maltese dog, I could not find the Maltese country domain “.mt” much in Malta.

The “.mt” domain is an uncommon domain that the Maltese people do not use much, but because it is a country-specific domain, it is best for operating websites and e-mail addresses related to Malta. As long as people keep using “.com” in the character string, the “.mt” domain may still be available.

■Click here for how to visit Malta

■For the Malta Domain “.mt” click here

■For the Malta Domain “.com.mt” click here