What to see in Malta

Hello once again!

Today, I'm going to tell you all about my trip to Malta. This archipelago is formed of 3 islands: the main island called Malta, and two smaller islands, Gozo and Comino.

We were lucky enough to visit the three islands as our trip lasted 5 days. Even so, I have to say that there are still some things left for us to see. Although these three islands aren't too big, they have a lot on offer.

In this post I'm going to talk about Malta, the most famous and most populated island of the three. In fact, it's one of the most densely populated countries in the European Union. We dedicated ourselves to this island for about 4 days.

There are a lot of interesting things surrounding this country. The first thing, one that I realised as soon as we left the airport and we got a taxi to our apartment. It really caught my eye, and it's that in this country, they drive on the left. I have never been to England where they also do this, for example, and I felt so weird being in a car on the left-hand side for the first time. They went onto roundabouts in a completely different way (to what I'm used to, anyway).

Also, I was under the impression that they drive slightly crazily, and it reminded me of my trip to Rome and Florence when I was absolutely gobsmacked to see how people drove there.

And, Malta was a British colony for nearly 2 centuries until 1964, and from then on English (along with Maltese, of course), became the official language. You can appreciate this influence in the country's architecture, especially with the eye catching balconies of the buildings.

Another thing that this country has, and something that especially attracts tourists, is the good weather they have here. Being a country in the south of the European Union, it therefore has a wonderful climate with many hours of sunlight a day.

So, the best time to visit the island would be during the summer months such as July and August. We went in May and the truth is, I consider it to be a really good time to travel to Malta as the weather is great but it's not too hot. Also, the island isn't completely inundated with tourists yet.

To be able to move around the island, I'd recommend for you to use the public transport. Although it's not particularly fast, they're frequent enough and the different lines take you to practically every corner of the island. You could also rent a car, but the island is quite small as I've said, so it doesn't take too long to arrive to any of the different points, even on the bus.

We stayed in the St Julian area for a very good price, in an apartment we found on Booking. There were 15 of us in total, so we divided ourselves between two pretty big apartments which were one in front of the other. I would like to talk to you about this part of the city first of all.

St Julians

This part of the island is found in the north of the capital, La Valleta, that I'll talk to you about later. St Julians, along with Paceville, are the places to be when it comes to nightlife and shopping in Malta.

It's true that I don't consider this area to be the prettiest of the island, but it's well situated to be able to move around the island. Also, there's enough accommodation, restaurants, etc.

Also, we wanted to know how the nightlife is Malta was. For this, we needed to find accommodation in a place that would allow us to walk home as the public transport barely exists at night.

Going out in Paceville

As I've said, it's here in Paceville that all the clubs, pubs, restaurants, etc. are found. The area is big, but not too big. And because of this, it's the most lively part of the island. Also, the good thing is that there aren't just young people going out to party, but you can also find people of any age. There are also all types of local bars with really different music in each one. There's something for everyone.

I remember that we spent the night going from one club to the other, as nearly all the regular spots were free. It was a great pleasure.

Strolling through its small fishing port

But this isn't all St Julians has to offer. It also has a pretty fishing port despite some of the zones being eclipsed by big luxury hotels and other constructions.

We went to a restaurant called Surfside Bar a few times, which is found right on the coast, and this means there are some fantastic views. Additionally, the food was delicious. Also, they have offers on cocktails that you can enjoy whilst looking at these views.

From there you can also head down to the ocean and go for a quick dip. And speaking of this, there aren't many beaches as it's quite a rocky area, but there's nothing more too it than just putting on some beach shoes. I would also recommend that you be careful because when we went down to the sea, the waves were quite fierce, so it wasn't at all safe to get into the water. The waves were breaking with so much force it was scary.

We stayed there to sunbathe though near some small natural pools where we cooled off every now and then.

If you search for a sandy beach, you can always go to St Georges Bay, although the sand is artificial.

The cultural heritage

And this isn't everything! Although I told you that this area doesn't stand out because of its cultural heritage, there are some little corners that are worth visiting. They contrast with the rest of the buildings of the city, such as the Church of Our Lady Mount Carmel, which is the most important building in this area. To be able to find it, you simply have to walk along to maritime promenade.

Also, I recommend visiting the St Julians Tower after the church, as it's an important defense tower. Another important building is the Spinola Palace which currently functions as the headquarters of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.

Its outskirts

Very close to St Julians you'll find Silema which stands out mainly because of the beautiful views of the Maltese capital (La Valleta) you can see from the ocean-facing doorway Both Silema and St Julians are located near the capital, the city that you cannot miss.

From St Julians you can catch a bus that takes you directly to La Valleta in 30 or 40 minutes. Whilst from Silema it doesn't take as long, around 20 or 30 minutes. There's also the possibility of going by ferry, although they're less frequent.

But be careful on your way back as when we had just finished our visit to the capital, we went back to the bus station to catch our return and go back to our apartment in St Julians, and we found ourselves in an enormous queue. Luckily, even though we couldn't get on the first bus, but another one came 10 minutes later. Even though it was quite crammed, we got on it.

La Valleta

Now, I'm going to talk to you about the city of La Valleta. Although it's the capital, it's not too big and you can see it all perfectly in a matter of hours. In fact, only about 8, 500 people live there.

What catches your eye is that it's completely walled in as, because of its location in the Mediterranean Sea, Malta was always a strategic settlement which had to defend itself against enemies.

This city was declared to be a World Heritage Site in 1980 by UNESCO and it's a perfect place to wander around and lose yourself in amongst the abundant narrow streets, and the city is full of picturesque balconies that also characterise the country.

Also it'll shock you just walking through the city because of the quantity of plazas, churches, palaces and statues that you'll find on your way through. You can't possibly miss the main street, The Republic.

The city has many attractions, but you can't miss the St. John's Co-Cathedral which has an amazing interior and it houses some very important paintings by Caravaggio. It's also a very lively city, and there are loads of perfect plazas where you can stop and have a coffee.

Before walking through the city, we climbed up to a special sort of roof on the coast, and from it we could see these views.

Popeye Village

On our visit to Malta, we visited this tiny amd seemingly fictitious town where Popeye the movie was filmed in 1980. It's found in the northern part of the island of Malta and as you can imagine, it was created specifically for the shooting of this film.

It's currently used for different activities, which are directed to both children and adults, and it's a sort of theme park.

You have to pay €15 to get in and the truth is, although we liked this place and we were entertained for a while (it was also situated right in an area surrounded by beautiful turquoise waters where we could take advantage of going swimming, etc. ). The price seemed a little excessive for what it is.

I would recommend visiting here if you have enough time, but only if you have a few solid days to visit the island. So in my opinion, it's better to dedicate your time to seeing the island in depth, and discover more about its cultural and natural heritage.

Marsaxlokk

This coastal town in the south of Malta is characterised by its port, which is where the majority of fish that's consumed on the island comes from. In fact, it's fish in general that marks the character of this town, without shadow of a doubt. This means it's full of traditional fishing boats of the country called luzzu. They are identified by their colourful exteriors. There are numerous restaurants where you can taste the fish in this town too.

Near this town, you can find the next place I want to talk to you about. So, it could be a good idea to plan your route and visit Marsaxlokk and later, go to Peter's Pool.

Peter's Pool

As I explained when I talked about St Julians, Malta isn't somewhere that's particularly recognised for its quantity of sandy beaches, as the majority of the island is rocky. However, the ones they do have are stunning. The water is transparent with a turquoise hue, and golden sand. There are even some red sand beaches in some cases.

However, sometimes it's not necessary to go to a beach to be able to enjoy a day on the coast and in the sea. Peter's Pool is a good example as it's a swimming area without sand where you can sunbathe and dive into the space of water made by the rocks which is in the shape of a U. If you don't want to, you can simply enjoy the area and its crystal clear waters, or watch others dive in. It's a spectacle to behold.

There are other cities and corners of this island that are bigger than these places I've spoken about that are worth going to. Some of them are places such as Rabat and Mdina or Blue Grotto, which is beautiful. However, over the following few days of our trip we dedicated ourselves to visting the other islands, Gozo and Comino, of which I will talk about in my next post.

I hope you've enjoyed my post once again, and as always, thank you for reading.

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