After a week in sunny Malta we are both sporting a healthy glow – a slight improvement on the pale and pasty complexion we have been developing throughout the “Irish summer”. It was refreshing to take a week off and I feel quite rejuvenated after soaking in the sun for a week. It was also great to catch up with Mark and Gill. We met them for 1 week in Malta in the middle of their epic European adventure! You can read more about their travels on their blog.
My first impression of Malta on arrival was that it felt overwhelmingly hot and humid and looked very old and dusty. On the drive from the airport we passed rustic Mediterranean-style houses lining densely packed streets in numerous small towns, the outline of Mdina’s walls and the cathedral dome were visible in the distance. It was easy to see Malta had a rich history and plenty waiting to be explored throughout the week.
Malta is a very compact country with any location reachable within about 30km of where we were staying in St Paul’s Bay. We hired a car and managed to sight-see a significant portion of Malta over our 7 days. Of course all sight-seeing took place at a leisurely pace, working around the sleeping in, eating out, siestas and swimming in the hotel pool!
A picture speaks a thousand words so I would suggest checking out some of the pictures from our trip in the gallery to give an overview of the week in more detail.
Day 1 (Sun 14th)
We visited Valletta, the capital of Malta. The city was quiet on a Sunday and I enjoyed wandering the narrow streets tightly packed with buildings displaying lots of variety in old balconies and shutters. Some buildings were in quite a state of decay but the streets as a whole had a lot of charm and character. Valletta is a fortified city on a peninsula with high walls built up around each side. The views were nice looking out from the city over the bay to the ‘Three Cities’ on the other side of the Grand Harbour.
Day 2 (Mon 15th)
We saw lots of beautiful boats today, some huge and expensive and others modest and traditional. We started our touring with a coffee stop at St Julians Bay. We saw some of the traditional Maltese fishing boats, very sweetly painted in bright red, blue, yellow green and brown. We continued on to Vittoriosa, one of the ‘Three Cities’ across the Grand Harbour from Valletta. There were many fine super yachts moored in the Grand Harbour, very impressive. After lunch we visited Marsaxlokk, a traditional fishing village with more of the brightly painted Luzzu and Dghajsa boats and a market selling laces and other wares.
Day 3 (Tue 16th)
We took the ferry to Gozo, the smaller of Malta’s two major islands and drove around the sights. Along the way we saw the remains of the Ggantija temples, built around 3600BC! We enjoyed views of the stunning blue sea at the Azure window, a very impressive natural rock formation. We also stopped in Victoria, the central city of Gozo and admired views from the citadel out to the sea on all sides.
Day 4 (Wed 17th)
We took a short boat trip today out to the Blue grotto, clear water reflecting brilliant blue in grottos along the base of the cliff. We went from there to Rabat and Mdina where we saw St Pauls catacombs and the fortified city of Mdina.
Day 5 (Thu 18th)
A quieter day with a bit of shopping in Sliema and then plenty of relaxing.
Day 6 (Fri 19th)
We spent our last full day on the beach at Golden Bay enjoying the sunshine. The sea was lovely to swim in, not too cold and very calm. I’m sure the sea in Malta is bluer than anywhere else I’ve been! After lunch Matt “won” a 7-day holiday which after listening to a timeshare sales-pitch turned out to be offered in the form of 1200 pounds of “discount” vouchers for package holidays and cruises, all of which must be booked before the end of the year. To use any of the vouchers you have to book much more expensive holidays. Essentially it’s all a scam, but was interesting to watch and hear the sales pitch none the less.
Day 7 (Sat 20th)
Up early to see off Mark and Gill at 7am, then a slower start for us to make our 1pm flight. Arrived back to a sunny Dublin afternoon around 4pm.
We had a great time in Malta with just the right mix of active sightseeing and relaxing. The islands are a pretty good size for a weeks holiday too, we had plenty to keep us occupied and saw most of the major attractions. I’m sure there are a still few more that we could have added to the list given another day or two in the sun though.
Back to work for us on Monday, but hope is in sight as we’ve already got a weekend trip to Brussels planned for early October and we’re going to Scotland for New Years (Hogamany) in Edinburgh, so you needn’t feel too sorry for us yet.
- Don’t forget to view our photos from Malta!