In that earlier blog I suggested that Malta seemed to be the
perfect combination of the history, culture and food Europe is known for, with
an added splash of idyllic beach living normally reserved for more tropical
locales.
Malta slotted into our trip for three days between Barcelona
and London, two cities that demand extensive sight-seeing. We were more than
happy to spend these days enjoying the beautiful weather, gorgeous landscapes
and unique cuisine. Our expectations were high, but our experience surpassed
even those lofty standards. This was the perfect middle portion to a whirl-wind
10-day Euro adventure, and it was arguably the best part of our trip!
Here are a few photos of this beautiful island, along with
five tips I can offer up to future visitors:
Three days isn’t
nearly enough
Malta may be small, but it has so much going for it.
Beautiful beaches, historic old cities & legendary nightlife. If you are
coming to experience everything it has to offer, make sure you come for at
least a week. Also, if you have plans to visit the smaller islands of Gozo and
Comino (which apparently you should) you may need even more time.
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| Mediterannen beach living at its finest |
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| Never-ending pristine landscapes |
Don’t miss Mdina
I say this because we did. We were staying on rural Golden
Bay beach, as our main prerogative was some R&R. We set aside one of our
three days to sight-see and choose to do it in the capital, Valletta. While it
was an enjoyable day we found Valletta to be more of a relaxed shopping
destination and thought it lacked a little in memorable sights. Our cab
driver recommended Mdina and we should have listened as it is a beautiful
ancient walled city with huge tourist appeal.
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| Main drag in Valletta |
Utilize the efficient
island bus system
For 1.50 Euro per day you can ride an extensive network of
buses that travel all over the island of Malta. From Golden Bay we were able to
grab a bus right outside of our resort and travel to Valletta (at nearly the
opposite end of the island) in about an hour. Considering that a taxi from the
Airport to our hotel was 30 euro and a shorter distance, it’s clear how amazing
of a value the bus system is. The route map and time table are both extremely
easy to read.
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| Great vantage point in the capital |
Try local cuisine
This can be said for most places in the world, but it’s worth
mentioning for Malta. Two items I particularly enjoyed were pastizzi (I will
provide this link to avoid lengthy description) as well as rabbit in its
various forms including stewed. If you are staying in the Golden Bay area I
highly recommend Apple’s Eye restaurant. It is nothing fancy but offers
great local comfort food at excellent prices.
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| Delicious pastizzi |
Embrace the shoulder
season
Malta welcomes the majority of its visitors during the
summer season, June to August. We went in late-April and the weather was
absolutely beautiful, the crowds relatively thin and the prices still not fully
rebounded from their winter lows. The sea, while beautiful to look at, is a
little too chilly for most to swim in at that time of year, but the pros far
outweigh the cons in shoulder season.
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| Even in mid-April I was enjoying the sea |
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| View from our room at the Radisson Blue Golden Sands |
Checkout my TripAdvisor review of Radisson Blu Golden Sands here.
Mike @ Palms & Pints
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