A mystery island.
Embarrassing to admit, before I started planning my venture around the Mediterranean, I didn’t know about a small island country south of Greece called Malta. Because I extended my stay in Colombia earlier in the year, I had RyanAir credit to use and they only fly to certain countries on certain routes. So I added Malta to the mix and see what it was all about. After several weeks in Spain and too many tapas one person should ingest, I was bound for Malta to experience a new place.
Neighborhood character.
Like most places, Malta has many different smaller cities/neighborhoods, all offering something unique. I started by exploring the closest area to my hostel, St Julian. It is along the northern coast of the island. I began the morning by trying a traditional breakfast offering, a pea pastry followed by a wonderful massage (cheap I may add) and spent the afternoon walking along the promenade on the water. I stopped for coffee and fresh beet juice (really to rest my feet and read my book) at a quaint little beachfront café. The next day I took a ferry to Valletta, the old city, to check out the more historical area of Malta. It had beautiful buildings, churches, gardens, and cute restaurants tucked in the narrow and incredibly hilly streets. I stopped at a wine shop and tried five different Maltese wines. They were all lovely. There are wineries scattered throughout inland parts of Malta so I didn’t get to the actual wineries with limited time but enjoyed the wine regardless. In talking with the nice gentlemen at the shop, he told me about a popular restaurant that served a common Maltese dish, rabbit pizza. So I went…obviously. I know what you are thinking…weird. Yes, but it was delicious!! The shredded rabbit and BBQ like sauce with peas and cheese was a wonderful mix. 10/10. One other highlight was Spinola Bay. After some research about recommended restaurants, I ventured to Gululu as it had high ratings. I got the Bragjoli, a traditional Maltese meal with beef in a wine and onion gravy and it was incredible!
There is a HUGE party scene in Malta’s neighborhood called Paceville. So naturally I had to check it out. These days, I am basically old enough to be many of these young folks going out. I started telling people I am 28 when asked while out…so please do not tell anyone my secret. I met two lovely Scottish ladies at my hostel and we got on going out clothes (aka my jeans and black tank – my best option really), and headed to check out the scene. We started at a few Irish pubs, I find that those have an older crowd, and the other bars don’t really start getting busy until like 12am. I should mention we also asked Serge to come with us, a 60-year-old French man also staying at the hostel, so we wanted to go somewhere where the kids wouldn’t judge us. Katie, Steph, Serge and I had such a blast chatting about life, listening to horrible karaoke, drinking IPAs, and people watching. We never actually made it into a club, but we watched the masses coming and going which in my opinion was better than going in where the music is loud and the strobe lights blind you. We got fries on our way home and I went to bed with a giant smile on my face. I even got invited to Katies’ wedding in May 2024, a traditional Scottish wedding – I cannot wait – see you then ladies!!!
Saronic island hopping.
If you don’t know about the app Get Your Guide, you do now. It is a competitor of Tripadvisor and has so many different tours and cool activities to join in countless countries. I booked a full day cruise starting in St. Paul’s Bay that stopped at many different spots – Blue Lagoon, Comino, Gozo, and some caves on the journey back to the main island. While it was springtime there and not quite summer beach weather, the day was a bit brisk (sunny nonetheless). The blue lagoon is the most popular swim spot and a stunning area of large rock formations, caves, and crystal-clear waters. I took way too many photos of basically the same thing (photos here) but it was too beautiful not to. Hundreds of boats stop there for hours for tourists to enjoy the beauty, swim, and party. Several boats had water slides, rooftop decks, and loud music playing. I was on a smaller boat that let us off for two hours of free time. After walking around the island, I found a small area away from the rest and enjoyed the sun while reading. We headed to Gozo, I enjoyed some fish cakes at Ferdie’s restaurant overlooking the port, and the boat stopped at several beautiful caves on the way back. It was a lovely day on the water. I made the hour-long trek back on the bus, missed my stop, stopped to get some cold beer on my way home and hung out in the hostel garden chatting with other travelers about politics, traveling, and life.
Cliff bound.
My favorite day in Malta involved hiking along cliffs on the western part of the island (go figure right??!?). One of the hostel volunteers told me about her favorite small bay on the west part of the island called Golden Bay, so I took her advice and headed to spend the day there. While the hike was easy, the views were incredible. I stopped about half way through to do some yoga (my travel mat ALWAYS comes through) and basked in the sun for a while. On the way back to the bay, I grabbed lunch at a small local restaurant overlooking the water. It started to rain so I took an early bus home and ran into Miche, also staying at my hostel. We grabbed drinks for happy hour, and both packed up to get ready to head to the airport for our evening flights. It was the perfect way to end my time in Malta.
The jen essentials for malta.
- Bolt app (a ride share app that is SO cheap – we are talking $10 to get really anywhere)
- An adventurous pallet (rabbit, peas, and interesting beef pairings can be found everywhere)
- Earplugs (you should all know by now, staying in a hostel means people coming and going at all hours of the night – most nights people came home at 5am!)
- A boat (when you visit an island this is non-negotiable)
- A good book (I had more downtime than I have had in a while so this came in handy)
- A pair of good walking shoes (nothing else to explain here)
- Ability to navigate busses (this is really the only way to get around the island unless you have a car or want to spend more money on ride shares)
- New friends (great people I plan to see again!)
- Going out clothes (as explained above – there is a huge nightlife so bring your finest outfits)
- Spontaneity (changing major travel plans and trying out foreign places is always a good thing in my book)
Wrap it up jen.
While I knew nothing about Malta before this trip, I can honestly say I saw so much of the island and would recommend it to anyone traveling to this part of Europe. It has so much to offer and the Maltese are kind and welcoming. I had no plans when I got there and made the most of my short time there. I feel so lucky to be able to do be flexible with my travels and see new parts of this big big world.
Up next: Greece for the feta cheese and ancient ruins.
Signing off for now,
Jennifer