COVER N. 303 - MALTA

Postmark: Malta Post Ghajnsielem 12.08.23

Posted on the 12th August; Received on the 21st August 2023

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Hot and humid Malta... at least according to my recollection of the Mediterranean archipelago I visited quite a few years ago.  So dense was the air that I felt i was banging my head  into a wall, as soon as I left the controlled environment of the Air Malta 737 I flew in from Lisbon, to breath the first breaths of Maltese air....sweat... all my pores were instantaneously open.... a flood that would drench me for the entire week or so I spent there whenever I left the freshness of the air conditioned hotel room...

I would love to visit again though. There's much to like in Malta, both man-made and natural, but I'll be sure to do it in a lesser aggressive month than July, as last time.... May, may be a good choice... spring is always a good choice.

Phantoms are not prey to such mundane human problems tough and 90+% of humidity in 30+º centigrade do not seem to affect them, so I was not that startled to receive this nice cover from the Ghost that walks, posted from Ghajnsielem, in the island of Gozo, the second largest of the Maltese Archipelago.

Thanks a lot Alex. 

Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Malta's own Comic Con, Malta post issued a three stamp set illustrated by well known comic artists, depicting scenes with comic heroes, in Maltese related environment.

The 0,05€ stamp of this set, on the cover, was designed by local artist and co-founder of Malta Comic Con Fabio Agius, and sets an armored soldier fighting a dragon in the pre-historic ruins of the Hagar Qim temple, on Malta's South West coast.

Malta is well know for its classic buses, which were in later years finally replaced by contemporary, and I believe much more fuel efficient, versions.

Over the years Malta Post has issued several sets dedicated to the theme and the 1€ stamp is part of the  2022 issue, comprising 4 stamps (0,30; 0,51; 0,59; 1 €), which began to circulate on 12FEB2022. 

The stamp shows a Ford Thames in the green Sliema Livery (it seems that according to the city they were based in, the colour of the buses changed, and I do have a distinct remembrance of the buses at the place where I was staying -  Sliema - being green). Aside from green,  I remember seeing red, and yellow (at the very least) buses.

On 28JUL2023, Malta Post issued a very nice 5 stamp set dedicated to Marine Life of the Mediterranean (0.01; 0.10; 0.20; 0.50; 2.50 €).

Two of these are on the cover: 

 - the 0.20 € stamp is illustrated with an image of  a sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), of which a small resident population still roans the Mediterranean waters;

 - the 0,10 € depicts a  Spinetail Devil Ray - Mobula mobular whose body can reach a width of up to 5 metres, being a species under legal protection in Malta.

all the stamps are cancelled by a very neatly applied postmark from the postal office off  Ghajnsielem, in the island of Gozo.