Here’s a novel idea…write WHILE you are on vacation. Bluetooth keyboard in hand, I start this post sitting on a Virgin Atlantic flight from Atlanta to London Heathrow where I will ultimately catch a connecting flight to Malta.
We flew business class on this trip because upgrading wasn’t much more than the premium economy tickets we initially set out to buy. The trip across the pond was fine. Virgin’s seats were fine – nothing to write home about but I do still appreciate the opportunity to lie down on an overnight
flight. KLM seats were going to be hard to beat and Virgin Atlantic fell slightly short of the mark (mostly due to the odd, tapered angle of the seats and ottoman). The crew did however hand out “sleeping suits” (read: pajamas) and that was pretty adorable.
Last time I connected in London I nearly missed my connecting flight. If it weren’t for divine intervention in the form of a youth soccer team messing around and screwing up the boarding process, I would have. But on this rainy London morning, we arrived an hour early and began the trek to our next gate. We landed in one of the main terminals and had to take two buses to make it to Terminal 4. Terminal 4 is in no man’s land. We were on the second bus so long that we began to question if we were being driven to Malta. It turns out, we were just going to the terminal that houses airlines with only one or two flights out of London daily.
Malta, is a tiny country in the Mediterranean, just south of Sicily. It’s only about one-ninth the size of Rhode Island and is comprised of three main islands: Malta, Gozo, and the very sparsely populated, Comino, where it is rumored only two residents remain. It is densely populated, superbly Mediterranean in feel and has a fascinating history. It’s been taken over countless times (by the Phoenicians, the Normans, the Romans and the British, to name a few) and it’s held a position of importance in many wars and conflicts because of its location. Napoleon took the entirety of Malta at one point. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip lived here. Malta was the most bombed location in WWII. And, Malta is the only country ever to be awarded the St. George Cross. The medal was awarded to the Maltese people for their continued bravery during the horrible sieges the island faced in the second World War.
Perhaps some of the most interesting history involves the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem. The Knights were a medieval and early modern Catholic military order founded in 1099 and their influence is all over Malta. The Knights’ focus was defending the Holy Land and serving the sick and the poor by building hospitals and so on. The Knights remained in Malta for more than 250 years and they are responsible for many of the buildings still standing today. Fun fact, all of the buildings in Malta are constructed of the only stone material found on the island: limestone. The consistency of building material gives the cities of Malta a common esthetic, but at golden hour, the cities simply glow.
Malta is a Roman Catholic country and it is very Catholic. That’s not a statement of judgement, but one of observation. Signs of the Maltese people’s faith are prominently displayed in their many churches, neighborhood statues and shrines, and small, what I’ll call religious placards, placed at their front doors. Like in Italy or Greece, please make sure your shoulders and knees are covered when visiting the churches. (Many of the large churches did provide paper or plastic shawls for shoulder coverage).
After a short cab ride from the airport, we made it to the hotel in time to freshen up for a short walk and dinner. We visited Malta in October which is shoulder season, but Valletta was still lousy with tourists. I cannot imagine the crowds in the summer. And, it was still hot…mid 80s and humid. We were told by locals that the temperature was unseasonably warm. We stayed at the Embassy Valletta which is right in the heart of historic Valletta. My room at the Embassy Valletta is lovely save one odd door to the outside that is located adjacent to the shower. That door faces the street and Valletta’s night life is rocking, so if you stay here, you might consider a white noise app or ear plugs. People were out every night but the noise continued into the wee hours of the morning on the weekends.
One other note: no one drinks tap water in Malta. It isn’t unsafe but has a very salty/oceany taste. You can find filtered water and refillable bottles in the hotels and you can purchase bottled water everywhere.
Friday morning and we were up and at ’em early for a walking tour of Valletta, which was…fine. The tour guide was nice and it helped us get our bearings, but the tour lacked a lot of the history we had hoped to learn more about. Valletta is a very compact capitol city and a fortified or gated city. Most of the cities in Malta are and given their location and history, that just makes sense.
I mentioned before that Malta has been taken over by most of the great empires throughout time. The country itself reflects all of the influences of those empires. Valletta is a heavily populated city full of narrow streets, arches, pop out window porches called muxrabija (from Arabic times where the lady of the house could take some air and see the goings on without being seen), British phone and post booths and Catholic saints. It’s also heavily influenced by Italy, Sicily specifically, which is a short ferry ride away. The pasta and gelato in Malta are as good as any I had in Rome.
While you’ll find lots of Italian influence, the Maltese language is more closely related to Arabic with a sprinkling of Italian words thrown in for good measure. Luckily for me, most Maltese also speak perfect Italian and English.
There are three customs I’ve noticed while wandering Malta thus far that I find so charming. The Catholic faith is ever present and much like New Mexico, you are never more than a stone’s throw from a Catholic church. The neighborhoods all feature their patron saint in the form of statues on street corners. A reminder perhaps of the importance of faith but also a reminder of how to find your way home. Most homes also feature a small shrine or placard of a saint or of the Virgin Mary. She’s very popular in Malta and is known as Our Lady of the Grotto. My Catholic assistant at work tells me that Mary gives a name to each of the followers that see her. In Malta, she’s said to have appeared to a hunter in a cave.
The Maltese also name their homes! Names in English, Italian or Maltese are hung by the front doors. And they have the most fabulous door knobs and knockers!
The nightlife in Valletta is lively. I’m always reminded of how much better the rest of the world is at just hanging out. Our hotel is in what used to be the poor neighborhood in the city. As the city evolved and people moved, businesses took over the small homes in this area and
made them into small restaurants and bars. Dinner
seems to begin around 7:00 PM and the party goes on for a while.
People are taking evening strolls, eating gelato, having cocktails and just enjoying life. Americans are horrible at doing nothing.
After a quick nap and shower (listen, I’m fully adapted to the dry heat of the desert -humidity does me in), we made our way to the city gate and the bus stop to find a bus to Mdina. Public transportation in Malta is pretty organized, is fairly inexpensive and is mostly on time. You can buy multi-day bus passes and you simply tap your card when boarding the bus. We bought a 6 day bus pass and used it some. I personally enjoy riding local transportation but there were some days when Uber was faster or more convenient. (Malta has Uber, eCab and Bolt).
Mdina, the Silent City, is another fortified city on the main island of Malta. If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you might recognize Mdina. It was the former capital city. When the capital moved to Vittoriosa, most people left Mdina. Mdina, much quieter than bustling Valletta, was very quaint and scratched an itch for a more chill evening experience. You can spend a very enjoyable evening here simply getting lost in the streets. Malta is known for its glass work and Mdina Glass was a great place for window shopping (PS: they ship).
We dined at The Medina (reservations recommended), a Michelin restaurant in a 500 year old building. The food was simply delicious. I
had the rabbit. Rabbit is the national dish and you can find it on most menus. Mdina was my favorite spot, maybe because it offered such a respite from the rest of the busy island. We ended the evening with a gelato on the walk back to our hotel. Green apple gelato was surprisingly refreshing.
Saturday we decided to book a day trip with Viator to the
island of Gozo. Gozo is smaller and less populated than Malta. It also had some sights that we were interested in and a day tour seemed like a logical way to hit most of the them.
Tour providers can make life a little easier by getting you around but you can also take public transportation in the forms of bus and ferry to make your way from Valletta to Gozo. The tour was, I think, more hectic than any of us had anticipated, and if I had it to do again, I’d probably get myself to Gozo and stay a night or two to really enjoy the island.
We took a harrowing van ride from close to our hotel to the northeastern side of the island to catch a ferry to Gozo. If you get car sick, Dramamine is probably a good call here. Along the way, I kept seeing animal crossing signs with what looked like a hedgehog on it. Hedgehogs? My friends thought I was nuts and the sign surely must be for pigs or wild boars. First of all, I know what a hedgehog looks like and it doesn’t look like a wild boar. Secondly, a quick Google search confirmed…there are wild hedgies in Malta! The government added new road signs to help preserve the little buggers who were getting hit by cars while running across the roads.
After our van ride, we met our tour guide and other tour attendees at the ferry terminal which was also a bit crazy. Once on board the ferry; however, we got to enjoy the scenery and calm ride to Gozo which took about 15 minutes. (You can also ferry to Comino Island from this point. We didn’t make it to Comino this time.)
Aboard a coach (yay air conditioning), the first stop was the Ggantija Temples. A prehistoric monument, likely erected to honor a fertility goddess, the temple pre-dates both Stonhenge and the Egyptian Pyramids. The locals call it the temple of the fat lady and I kinda love that.
After a visit to the Temple, we took a fairly long bus ride and had a lunch that was out of the way and wasn’t worth writing about. We made a quick stop in the small village of Il Fontana mostly for shopping at a market. You can get prickly pear liqueur (yummy) and plenty of souvenirs. There is a
spring under this town and the Knights constructed a washhouse in the 16th Century that is still used today.
Next stop, the Inland Sea in Gozo. Dwejra Bay was a great swimming and boating site. We opted for a boat ride for 5 Euro, but I kinda wished I had worn a bathing suit under my clothes so that I could have taken a dip. The water here was so blue. A deep, dark blue. This was the site of the famous Azure Window until 2017. In March of 2017, erosion and a storm combined forces, collapsing the iconic natural arch. I’d highly recommend a boat ride anyway. Boats are waiting and the captain will take you around the bay and the caves. The water was a bit choppy the day we were there, but you can’t beat the beauty of the open sea.
Our last stop before heading back to the ferry to Valletta was the city of Victoria and La Citadella. Also known as the Castello, the Citadel
of Victoria has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. The ancient fortified city features a beautiful cathedral, great views, and today, the filming of an episode of Power Couple. We watched for a bit as a wife tried to counter balance her husband thus keeping him out of a vat of
water. You can, apparently, watch Power Couple on Prime Video if you are so inclined. I might take in an episode. We sat in the town square and chatted with an elderly gentleman from Gozo for a few minutes. He had seen military drones and the USS Gerald Ford come into the Mediterranean. (We were in Malta just before the conflict between Israel and Palestine heated up).
A bus ride, a ferry ride, a crazy van ride and a short walk later, our group all settled in for quiet room service dinners in our own rooms. Sometimes a day is just too hectic and full of people .
It was highly recommended by several sources to head to Marsaxlokk on Sunday for the fish market. Marsaxlokk is a fishing village south of Valletta. You can take the bus but we opted today for an Uber. The Ubers and cabs we’ve taken in Malta have been a bit wild but we’ve made
it alive to all of our destinations. That’s the choice to make: a slower and more crowded bus ride or a faster and wild driving Uber ride.
Masaxlokk is known for its fresh catches and for its brightly colored fishing boats, the luzzu. We arrived mid-morning and I’d suggest going earlier. It’s still quite warm and the market is packed. You can find everything here from fresh fish to underwear and the townspeople and the tourists turn out. We made our way through the stalls and took
many photos of the luzzu. The boats are handed down from generation to generation with each subsequent generation keeping the paint color and patters of the previous generation. Each boat is adorned with an Eye of Horus or Eye of Osiris to protect the fisherman.
After we wandered a bit and had a cold shandy, we settled in for lunch at Liska. I can highly recommend the local pan fried King Prawns. They were scrumptious.
Back in Valletta, I took a short nap and then chose to wander the streets. Sunday is a bit quieter here. Churches are closed to visitors for mass (unless you are attending mass) and several shops are closed as well. You know what’s open? Gelato stands. I enjoyed a scoop of pistachio today and then enjoyed some drinks at the rooftop pool where I watched the sunset before heading to dinner at the restaurant next door.
We have not had a bad meal in Malta. Aki was a delicious Japanese meal and I had the craziest cocktail. A fruit and gin concoction, this beauty was served with a flavored smoke bubble on top.
It’s Monday and even though we have a couple more days in Malta, I’m starting to think about the reality that awaits me at home. (Currently seeking applicants for a wealthy benefactor so I can quit my day job and just travel). Today we bused out to Hagar Qim, the site that has two ancient temples. Advanced tickets are suggested and you can easily buy them online. It’s really fantastic to think about the amount of ancient sites on Malta and how old they really are. We cruised through the museum and then walked to the Hagar Qim and Mnajdra Temples. I geek out at these kinds of places when I start to think about how I am walking the same path as people in 3600 – 3200 BC. The Megalithic temples are impressive.
There are some nice trails at this site as well and 3 of the 5 of us had a lovely seaside hike, taking in the views and the ocean breezes. (I did question my decision to wear pants in the humidity, but I found an ice cold Coke Zero and some shade in the parking lot).
From the temples, we hopped in an Uber down to the Blue Grotto. Theoretically, you could walk. We had a nice lunch on a rooftop and headed over to the grotto, another great swimming spot. We watched a few guys cliff diving and waited on an Uber back to Valletta.
I took the afternoon to hop over to St. John’s Co-Cathedral (so called because a co-cathedral shares the Bishop’s seat with another cathedral…in this case St. Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina) and to do a little souvenir shopping before reuniting with the group for dinner.
St. John’s is an ornate cathedral and is interesting in its own right. It was built by the Knights between 1573 and 1578 and is dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The standout feature in this cathedral is the Caravaggio work, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
Back to the hotel to shower the humidity sweat off and to change for dinner. We’re headed tonight to Sliema for dinner at The Chophouse which has a lovely menu and even better views. We had a bit of a miscommunication with the front desk staff in that they sent us off in the opposite direction than we needed to catch the ferry to Sliema. Uber to the rescue and we arrived in Sliema in time to enjoy the sunset views of Valletta before our dinner reservation. You’re never far from anything in Malta.
Our last day in Malta and some of the crew slept in, but two of us got up and got moving. I was determined to find the correct ferry on my own and head across the bay to the Three Cities. The Three Cities are often referred to as a singular entitiy, but as their name suggests, there are indeed three separate cities. Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua all have their own sights to see, but I mainly wanted to wander and get lost in the streets, looking at slices of Maltese life. We made it to two of the three cities and took in the sights of vivid doors, succulent plants, and staired streets. There are, of course, cathedrals in each of the three cities and parks with great views of Valletta. The ferry ride from Valletta to the Three Cities harbor is about 5 minutes and costs under 2 Euro.
Headed back to Valletta, we stopped in for drinks at the gorgeous hotel, The Phoenicia. Located just outside the Valletta city gate, this 5-star hotel has stunning gardens and grounds. As a non-guest, you can dine here. We sat by the pool for some snacks and a spritz. I sipped a Maltese Spritz, made with the Gozo prickly pear liqueur.
We had our last dinner at Fifty-Nine Republic which was close to our hotel. It was another incredible dinner. I decided to try a Pornstar martini, which we’d see on almost every menu in Malta. I’d never heard of it. Turns out, it’s a delicious passionfruit martini served with a Prosecco sidecar. I’m a fan. This restaurant also had the cutest desserts. I had the apple tart which was shaped like an apple.
Our time in Malta flew by and I’d actually recommend being there for a least a full week, if not more. There is so much history and it is a photographer’s paradise. We didn’t get to all of the things we’d like to have seen.
We were up early to catch the shuttle to the airport. Malta’s airport was fairly easy to navigate. A quick hop to Amsterdam and we caught our Delta flight back to the States. 3 of the 5 of us ended up sick after we got home – not unusual for being on several planes with people and their germs. I’m working through the 500 some photos I took in Malta and wishing I was still there.
You can see all of my Malta photos here: Malta Album
The Travels and Misadventures of Miss HeatherLynnP 