Sols said:
Please show me where on the map the mountains of northern Malta are located. I have spent so much time in Malta and thought I had seen every nook and cranny of the islands by now.
You can split the crime stats a lot of different ways, but in the end both Malta and Cyprus have low crime rates. They are both very safe places to live in. The crime that does happen is the kind that's generally easy to avoid. No one is going walk up and stab you like they did Hugo, unless you are Hugo. No one is going plant a bomb in your car, unless you're conducting scathing investigative journalism involving high profile people in the upper echelons of Maltese society.
Agreed. Cyprus is boring. Malta is more exciting. The Maltese tax regime is more favorable.
But there's a difference in what kind of businesses the two offer. Malta is hugely reliant on igaming with a small but decent fintech sector. Cyprus is a bit more varied. To an extent, that's simply a function of Cyprus being physically larger and geographically different.
English proficiency is comparable between the two. Plenty of Maltese people are uncomfortable speaking English because they only hang around with other Maltese speakers. Same way you can find Cypriots not comfortable speaking anything but Greek. There are hardly any Turkish speakers in Cyprus (assuming we're talking about Republic of Cyprus).
There are two UK military bases in Cyprus. There is a large Turkish armed presence in the north/TRNC. Greece, France, Israel, and the US are collaborating closely with Cyprus. The US views arming Cyprus and getting it up to NATO standards as a strategic objective, which is why it has been increasing Cyprus' access to buying US weapons to modernize its army and military facilities. If anyone bombs Cyprus, it'll probably be the last thing they do. Or it's part of a conflict so much larger it doesn't matter which Mediterranean island you're on.
In terms of close nearby friends and allies, Malta only has one: Italy. Libya used to be an ally before Gaddafi was strung up. Malta and Tunisia have almost nothing in common besides their languages being quite similar and some minor cultural similarities like that.
At some point around page 2 or 3, it became clear there is no tropical (or subtropical) location that fits your needs. So at this point, let's just let the thread live the new life it's taken on. If you want a discussion that stays true to the tropics, though, please start a new one and tag me in the thread, and I'll be stricter about deleting off-topic there.
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