Malta was not on my radar until 2015 when my son booked his honeymoon trip. While I’ve been interested in traveling to places near and far for as long as I can remember, I can’t say I spent much time really considering places that are even slightly off the conventional beaten path. If you haven’t already spent much time there, it is hard not to get caught up in the mainstream hype that is France or Italy or even Spain when thinking about traveling in Europe. While it’s long been a popular destination for Europeans looking for sun filled warmth and beaches, when my son first mentioned Malta I think I had to go to a map to find it. From school days I remembered historical references to the Malta Conference between FDR and Churchill, and in my lifetime I faintly recalled the more recent Malta Summit during which Bush and Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War shortly after the Berlin Wall fell.
A quick study of Malta taught me that it is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean Sea. It has long been a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and its strategic location in this respect resulted in its long history of foreign rule. Today the evidence of those centuries of foreign influence are readily apparent in the architecture, people, and languages. In 1964, Malta gained its independence from Britain and it entered the EU in 2004. Malta exudes old world European charm, and the Maltese are celebrated for being open, warm and welcoming to travelers.
Simple economics lead us to include Malta in our last European adventure. While planning a trip that would include our daughter and niece, I originally planned to visit Croatia. Croatia is a place I’ve long wanted to visit. But when I checked airfares, Rome to Dubrovnik added 100 euro per head, and Dubrovnik to Athens added an additional 225 euro each. Since his honeymoon, our son had always been encouraging us to visit Malta, so on a whim I checked flights. I found Rome to Malta added 25 euro, and Malta to Athens added 38 euro, per head. Figuring Croatia would be there for another day, the math clearly led us to include Malta on our itinerary for this trip instead.
Honestly, just going on our son’s recommendation, and a bit of internet searching, we really didn’t know what to expect. But what we found upon arrival in Malta were sweeping sun filled views in every direction.
With only a few days to enjoy Malta we based our trip out of Valletta, the capitol. Todd and I booked a lovely, yet very reasonable, one-bedroom apartment on Airbnb in the old town area of the city, while our young twenty-something travel companions stayed a ferry ride and short walk away in St. Julians where the night life and beaches abound.
The old town area of Valletta is a very walk-able neighborhood where shops, restaurants, bars, coffee shops, markets, churches and museums abound. The architecture is stunning, and you find one charming street after another. While old town sometimes seems to be an uphill climb in every direction, it is a very easily navigated area with the streets laid out on a grid.
A highlight of our stay was a day trip to visit the Blue Lagoon on nearby Comino island. This beach has to be one of the most lovely places in all of Malta. After doing my research, I knew it would be important to arrive early in the day before the crowds descended. The lagoon fills with loads of visitors each day, and finding available beach chairs, and a spot to enjoy the view, gets more difficult as the day goes on. We decided to take an early morning bus from the bus terminal just outside the walls of old town Valletta to Cirkewwa to catch the ferry to Comino.
The bus ride was a ninety minute trip each way. It was long for sure, but all the same it was time very well spent. Our bus was a nice mixture of both tourists and Maltese going about their weekday business. I revel in people watching, and there was no better way for us to see the island and its goings-on then from the windows of a cross island bus. I also relish the adventure in trying to get from point A to B in a foreign country. Sure we could have spent the money required to hire a car to pick us up and take us to the ferry terminal, but where is the fun in that? The challenge of map reading, buying the correct tickets, and getting yourself on the right bus and ferry is the good stuff.
The Blue Lagoon did not disappoint. The views were stunning in every direction. We were in the first handful of folks to arrive, and we easily found chairs we could rent and enjoy our day from.
Before our day at the Blue Lagoon, it had been a long time since I’d spent time on a beach with Europeans. I very much admire the self confidence they possess and their ability to just let it all freely hang out- regardless of gender, age, size, or shape. I, on the other hand, with my tankini and swim skirt was in the running for “Most Modest Swimwear on the Beach” until a young Muslim girl showed up in her burkini.
Another day well spent in Malta included enjoying a few of the many museums. Short on time, we specifically concentrated our time on history and war museums in Valletta, and they were enlightening. Malta’s location has afforded it strategic importance and centuries of revolving rule by foreign powers. Todd and I particularly enjoyed doing a deep dive and learning more about the experiences and struggles of the Maltese people during World War II.
Totally out of character for me, I really can’t speak much to the meals we enjoyed during our time in Malta. In our defense, we had been eating our way through Rome for several days before we arrived in Malta, and I think we were just tired of eating…or overeating as the case may be…for the time being. In any case, we didn’t take our usual time to find any particular favorite spots. We did, however, enjoy a delightful substitute for dinner one evening:
I’m looking forward to a longer return visit to Malta one of these days. For a small archipelago there is still so much for us to see and do there. A trip to Gozo, which is another highly recommended island more off the beaten path, is high on our list of things yet to experience and I know it will be a trip that’s well worth the wait.