Malta: travel guide
When I told people about my vacation plans to Malta, I generally got the feeling that most of them didn’t really know what to expect from this tiny island (or where it was situated). I’ll admit, it was never really on my radar either until I was on the lookout for sunny, affordable vacation spots in Europe. A funny couple in my social media circle recently vacationed here (note: the guy was actually born in Malta – hello Andrew and Astrid!) and their pictures sparked my interest, so I started researching (the convincing power of Instagram at work here, people). Turns out, I liked what I found! Prices were very okay, the weather was sunny and there were quite a few things to see and explore. Now, Malta is very small and we didn’t want to have a “beach-hotel” kind of vacation, but rather explore the island to the fullest so we stayed in three different locations and rented a car – the perfect way to see as much of Malta (and Gozo) as you can!
General impressions? The food and drinks are generally cheaper than in Belgium, you can always find a place to park (for free) and the people are warm and friendly. Their kitchen can be defined as Mediterranean, they use a lot of olive oil and garlic – rabbit and pastizzi (a sort of savory pastry) are pretty much the local specialty. Since we’re on an island here: fish is fresh and cheap, meat will cost you some more. Also, they drive on the left which is a bit of an adjustment and the friendliness seems to disappear whenever the Maltese get in their car. Driving can be a bit crazy around here – but hey, we survived!
Pinpointed places of things we did and loved (with some more information about each spot) can be found on this map I made for you (P.S. I could not find out how to embed this with the info on it on the new Google maps, anyone that has the answer?) – but to give you a small summary of places to start, these were my absolute favorites: St. Peter’s Pool, Fomm ir-Rih bay, Valletta, Birgu, Mdina, the Azure Window and Mgarr ix-Xini. All in all, Malta offered us some great experiences, good food, beautiful sights and sunny weather – but I also have to admit it probably couldn’t keep me entertained for more than two weeks. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a laid-back vacation spot in Europe that isn’t yet overcrowded by tourism – depending on what you’re looking for, you can certainly have a swell old sunny time here.
