The next major stop - where I hopped-off for an hour or so - was Mdina a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island. The Punics (a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples from Carthage in North Africa - Been there!! - who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician settlers, but also to North African Berbers) were the first to settle in Malta.
The town is still confined within its walls, and has a population of just over three hundred, but it is contiguous with the village of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000. According to Wikipedia Mdina was inhabited and possibly first fortified by the Phoenicians around 700 BC and called Maleth. Mdina occupies a strategic location on one of the island's highest points and at maximum distance from the sea. Under the Roman Empire Malta became a Municipium and the Roman Governor built his palace in Mdina. Tradition also holds that St. Paul resided in the city after his shipwreck on the islands.
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