Our November Weekend in Malta

While oftentimes culture shock can be extremely fun on vacation, the most surprising part of our long November weekend in Malta was to not be nearly as culturally shocked as we expected to be. We felt as though we were vacationing in the Britain of the European tropics because everyone spoke English. From the looks of it, we knew we were in Europe. Aside from London, it was easily the most adaptable country we’d ever been to on the continent.  

Quips of Malta:

• The country and all the cities are beige and made of limestone to keep homes cooler in the summer
• The bird of Malta is all the construction cranes you can see on the city skyline 😊 There’s certainly a lot of residential development happening in the country
• Ubers came ridiculously fast (as fast, if not faster than NYC in 2023 – and were cheap by our standards)
• Nightlife seemed to be much busier on Friday night than Saturday night & we noticed a lot of cops helping very drunk people, which was rather amusing and whole-hearted
• Malta has been used to film many movies: all the scenes of Rome in Gladiator were filmed in Malta, Gladiator 2 is being filmed there (written in 2023), and there were several scenes of Games of Thrones and Troy filmed here as well
• The language of Maltese is a mix of Italian + Arabic
• The country still feels undiscovered to us, but the locals would disagree. One local said he sometimes waits for 3-4 buses that are entirely full before choosing to take an Uber because of the rise in population. However, our tour guide said that unfortunately, infrastructure development isn’t keeping up with this rise in population (i.e. transportation, hospitals)
• The country didn’t legalize divorce until 2011, and our tour guide said that the relatively conservative country is rather against abortion publicly (what’s done behind closed doors is a different story). However, it is super LGBTQ friendly and he said people are allowed to have “four weed plants per home” – though admittedly I didn’t research this
• National dish: stuffat tal-fenek – Maltese braised rabbit stew (and the portions in Malta are large overall)
• This tiny country defeated the Ottoman Empire with roughly 5k people to the empire’s 45k army

Sliema & Valletta (Red Markers on Map)

We stayed in the city of Sliema, which is on the northeast coast of Malta between the cities of Valletta (the old city), and St. Julian’s (known for its nightlife). Sliema is more affordable and does feel commercialized but is a solid base area for tourists to stay – it’s full of great hotels, great restaurants, and has bus and ferry options. However, I would probably stay in Valletta next time (even with the additional cost), because taking a ferry to the other islands (Gozo & Comino) is easier, and the nightlife in Valletta was enjoyable.

• Valetta Walking Tour – we did a free walking tour with Ben and it’s the best tour we’ve done since our tours in Colombia. He also does a tour of Mdina/Rabat & we wish we could have done a tour with him there too. The tour covers the history of Malta, but also covered a variety of relevant topics such as politics, religion, economy, fun facts, recommendations, and he takes you to a few wonderful viewpoints. My favorite viewpoints were 1) from the Upper Barrakhah Gardens where you get a view of the three cities – Birgu, Senglea, Bormla (which I wish we had done as another day trip because we were told the ports are great to walk and 2) atop the walled city of Valletta itself
• Sliema – we did enjoy the restaurants we went to here such as Ta Kris for dinner (where yes, I tried rabbit stew once) & Tiffany’s, for breakfast. We did walk around the city, but my favorite thing in Sliema was to sit atop Tigne where you get a great view of Valletta across the water

In usual Evan/Ilana style, we rented a scooter to get around Malta and explore the island of Gozo. Every time we’re planning a European trip we read blogs that say driving in the country is impossible, including Malta. Maybe as NYC drivers we’re immune – but Malta was the easiest driving country, aside from everything being on the opposite side. We did run into a lot of wind, so in retrospect, a car would have been better, but it was super advantageous to have this option to explore at our own pace and to have a variety of parking options (also, we spent 6 euros on gas for TWO days). Here are the day trips we took:

Day Trip Option 1:
Marsaxlokk Village, The Blue Grotto, Hagar Qim Temples, Mdina & Rabat
(Purple Markers on Map)

• Marsaxlokk: looks like pics of Thailand with the colorful boats in the water. They are definitely cute, and the market alongside the promenade is very affordable and a great place to get souvenirs/support the small business owners. That being said, I’d probably recommend skipping this place to spend more time in other parts of Malta if you’re quite limited on time. If you do choose to come, there’s a place called St. Peter’s Pool – a natural swimming pool – that I would probably try if we return!
• The Blue Grotto: this was a 10 euro pp boat ride that takes you around the mountain to the grotto with pretty choppy waters (at least in November). It’s not quite the same as the grottos of Capri, Italy where we got to jump off the boat and swim in the waters, but it was worth the trip to see it both from above and on the waters with spectacular colors of purple coral and of course, very blue waters.
• Hagar Qim Temples: massively impressive ancient religious site perched overlooking the sea; 3600 BC, 1000+ years older than the pyramids (oldest free-standing structures in the world)
• Mdina: this was the original walled off capital of Malta and is now a rather small city where property still continues to be passed down by nobility and religious authorities. We spent a few hours simply walking around and eating – but there aren’t too many sites outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral & the museum, though I imagine a tour here would be enlightening.   
• Rabat: the suburb right outside the walls of Mdina that was surprisingly equally as cute as Mdina is very well known for St. Paul’s Catacombs. Evan and I haven’t done too many catacombs, and seeing as how we didn’t manage to get tickets in Paris, we gave them a try in Rabat and while half of them were closed, the half that were open were plentiful. The structure of these deep caves and mazes were incredible and the variety of shared religions in the catacombs was intriguing to witness. Surprised to say it, but I do recommend these catacombs (especially at only 5 euros a person)!

Day Trip Option 2:
Gozo Island (Blue Markers on Map)

We met a retired couple on our plane to Italy that spent an entire week on Gozo, and we can understand why, though we only did a day trip. We ferried over on our scooter from the west coast of the main island of Malta, but if we did it again, we would have taken a ferry from Valletta to Gozo and rented a scooter there to avoid the windy drive through the island. The highlight of the drive in Malta was stopping to see Popeye Village, featured in the 1980 Robin Wiliams version of the Popeye film. Once we got on to the island of Gozo, here were a few of the highlights:

• Salt Pans at Reqqa Point (with a small cave) – it was entirely abandoned when we went and we loved it, and later found photos of people even hosting private dinners/events because of the fabulous background. The only other salty area I can think of us going to are the Salt Flats in Utah, but dessert flats vs ocean salt pans are a little different.
• Wied il-Ghasri (reminiscent to Sarakiniko Milos in Greece) – an inlet gorge that is serene to visit on a long November weekend in Malta to emotionally feel the waves wash away your anxieties, and in the summer a secluded beach popular with tourists and divers.
• Inland Sea & the ruins of the Azure Window – massive cliff into the ocean with huge waves/awe-inspiring to see the power of the waves hitting the ocean; unfortunately the Azure Window collapsed during a storm in 2017; lots of other diving sites nearby with beautiful waters that I would gladly return to.
• Citadel of Vittoria – site of the original roman settlement in Gozo and is believed to have become the main settlement of Gozo in the Bronze Age (start 3300 BC). Incredibly preserved fortress within a town that you can spend a few hours exploring the cafes, stores and functioning church within its walls.

Final Verdict: Is a long November weekend in Malta worth it?

Absolutely, yes.

This entry was posted in Europe, Malta