For Memorial Day weekend we had the pleasure of visiting the small island country of Malta! We hadn’t really heard much about Malta before but honestly, we found pretty cheap direct flights there from Seville and what could be better than visiting a small island in the Mediterranean for an extended weekend? Well... not much!!!
As soon as we landed in Malta we were greeted by their quaint but clean airport with unlimited free WiFi (say what?!) and a taxi stand that has posted taxi prices and requires you to pay at the counter instead of directly to the cab driver. This was such a relief, as we’ve been swindled by numerous taxi drivers in the past (in Fiji we were charged the equivalent of $8 one way to our hotel from the airport but somehow our return fare was closer to $40! And don't even get me started on taxi fares in Rome...). The short drive from the airport to our hotel in Sliema, near the Capitol city of Valletta was lovely, the island was fairly arid and covered in squares of land separated out by fences made from stacked up rocks, there was an abundance of beautiful old buildings all built from the same colored stones, and everything was in English and so polite! Closed busses driving past said “Sorry, not in service” and so many signs had “pleases” and “thank yous”... I know, it’s kind of a weird thing to notice but coming from Spain where things can be a little abrasive, or just incredibly straight forward, this was a breath of fresh air!
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| The view from our room in Valetta |
We had booked our room at a waterfront hotel called Bayview Hotel and Apartments but when we arrived we were told that they had overbooked so had transferred our reservation to a nearby hotel called Sliema Hotel, and upgraded us to a waterfront room at no charge. I didn’t mind this too much, except I felt like we may have been swindled for using Ryan Air to book our room and had looked at both hotels online when booking and selected Bayview because it was much more modern. Either way, we had a rockin view of the bay and of Valletta, although the one elevator in the hotel worked about half the time and the room left something to be desired haha. We spent most of our time on the balcony or exploring though so it was fine! If you are looking for somewhere to stay in Malta I could definitely recommend that area! It was right across from the tour boats with an abundance of island tours, booze cruises, dinner cruises, etc. and the hop on-hop off busses stopped right there! It was a great place to explore the island from and had quite a few tasty restaurants and bars nearby.
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| Sights on the Sunset Booze Cruise |
The first day we went on a sunset booze cruise that went from 7 pm to a little after midnight. We met tons of people and loaded up on the free drinks! The only downside was that they were airing the championship futbol game between Real Madrid and England and guess which nationalities dominated the cruise? That’s right... Spanish and English! It made for a lot of competition and a lot of people crowded around the one TV inconveniently placed near the cue to the bar, adding a ton of crowd fighting to get to the free drinks! Still worth it!
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| A few brave souls went for a night-time swim. A bit cold for our liking! |
The next day we explored the northern part of the island by cruising around on the north route of the hop on-hop off bus tour. We soon came to find out that Malta is much bigger than it seems, as this tour was about a 2 hour loop altogether. We enjoyed a stop in the cute town of Mdina (where a few Game of Thrones scenes have been filmed!) and then spent the rest of our time at the beach at Golden Bay before hopping on the last bus back to the city.
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| Vineyards just outside of Mdina |
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| The main entryway into the old city of Mdina |
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| Golden Bay |
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| Prehistoric temples |
The next day we explored the southern part of the island via the other hop on-hop off bus route and saw some great prehistoric temples that predate Stonehenge (the Maltese temples are from 3000 BC!) and explored the adorably vibrant fishing village of Marsaxlokk, where we perused their open-air market on the sea-front, admired the colorful fishing boats moored off shore, and ate amazing, fresh seafood!
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| The Blue Lagoon! |
On our last day we took a day long-Island boat tour and ended up at the Blue Lagoon for four hours where we had SUCH an incredible time! The boat tour included lunch and an open bar (bonus!) and shuttled us strait to the lagoon. They even moored there for the duration of our stay so we could pop on and off to use the restrooms and hit up the bar. The water was absolutely vibrant, and vendors were there selling cute floaties and fancy shmancy drinks in pineapples and other hollowed out fruits. If you do plan on going to the blue lagoon, make sure you bring plenty of cash, and don't expect to find a cozy spot on a sandy beach. The surrounding area is pretty arid and composed of lots of rocks, so we ended up posting up on the rocky cliff-sides surrounding the lagoon. Although it wasn't the comfiest surface to lay on, it was well worth the view!
Overall, we absolutely loved Malta! The people there were very friendly and helpful, food and drinks were great, and it provided a wonderful island-y, laid back vibe the entire time. We honestly didn't know what to expect on our trip to Malta but this was a pleasant surprise, and made us take a much slower-paced trip than we are normally used to.
As soon as we landed in Malta we were greeted by their quaint but clean airport with unlimited free WiFi (say what?!) and a taxi stand that has posted taxi prices and requires you to pay at the counter instead of directly to the cab driver. This was such a relief, as we’ve been swindled by numerous taxi drivers in the past (in Fiji we were charged the equivalent of $8 one way to our hotel from the airport but somehow our return fare was closer to $40! And don't even get me started on taxi fares in Rome...). The short drive from the airport to our hotel in Sliema, near the Capitol city of Valletta was lovely, the island was fairly arid and covered in squares of land separated out by fences made from stacked up rocks, there was an abundance of beautiful old buildings all built from the same colored stones, and everything was in English and so polite! Closed busses driving past said “Sorry, not in service” and so many signs had “pleases” and “thank yous”... I know, it’s kind of a weird thing to notice but coming from Spain where things can be a little abrasive, or just incredibly straight forward, this was a breath of fresh air!
On our last day we took a day long-Island boat tour and ended up at the Blue Lagoon for four hours where we had SUCH an incredible time! The boat tour included lunch and an open bar (bonus!) and shuttled us strait to the lagoon. They even moored there for the duration of our stay so we could pop on and off to use the restrooms and hit up the bar. The water was absolutely vibrant, and vendors were there selling cute floaties and fancy shmancy drinks in pineapples and other hollowed out fruits. If you do plan on going to the blue lagoon, make sure you bring plenty of cash, and don't expect to find a cozy spot on a sandy beach. The surrounding area is pretty arid and composed of lots of rocks, so we ended up posting up on the rocky cliff-sides surrounding the lagoon. Although it wasn't the comfiest surface to lay on, it was well worth the view! 
Overall, we absolutely loved Malta! The people there were very friendly and helpful, food and drinks were great, and it provided a wonderful island-y, laid back vibe the entire time. We honestly didn't know what to expect on our trip to Malta but this was a pleasant surprise, and made us take a much slower-paced trip than we are normally used to. 
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