Random Ramblings About Malta

Malta is a small country to the south of Italy that belongs to the EU. To be honest with you I wasn't even exactly sure where Malta was when we decided to visit here. I was looking for somewhere warm in Europe to be in May, and Malta fit the bill 😀

It is a small country that consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. It is a small country with just over 316 square KM, and around 450,000 residents. To put it in perspective, Greater Victoria (and it's 13 districts) is 696 square KM with a population of about 345,000. So Malta, is half the size with 100,000 more people!

There is quite a bit of rural land here as well, so certain areas of the island are packed with people! Steve and I both guessed that were way more than 450,000 Maltese citizens!

We arrived after an overnight flight from Montreal to Frankfurt with a VERY tight one hour connection! We made it through customs and literally ran through the airport to arrive at our gate and get in the line to board the plane.

When we arrived in Malta, we didn't need to go through customs, because we already came into the EU in Frankfurt. We quickly collected our bags and found the taxi window. You pay at the taxi window, and they give the driver a slip to tell him where to take you. I am glad we had our address written out for them, as I couldn't really pronounce any of the words... and oddly there was no house number. It seems that many houses in Malta have names as an address. Our address was "Tranquillity".

You might think this would make it difficult to find a place, but our taxi driver found it fairly easily!

Side note: We were certainly glad we didn't rent a car here for a few reasons.

• They drive on the other side of the road at an incredibly fast speed.
• They use the lane lines as suggestions which they are not fond of.
• There is an intricate system of one way roads and roundabouts which I didn't really figure out all week!

Our apartment was terrific. There was a lovely Maltese family living upstairs that turned their lower floor into a 2 bedroom apartment and a couple of other rooms that they normally rent out to students. We rented the apartment which was beautifully renovated and included a kitchen, living area, 2 bedrooms, bathroom and outdoor courtyard. The apartment was very well maintained (so well... we were a little worried and were very careful not to wreck anything!)

I just looked back and realized I didn't take any photos of the inside. Oops! Anyway, not only was the apartment beautiful, and the hosts very kind; they also supplied us with fresh fruit, breakfast items (including fresh chocolate croissants each day), bottled water, a bottle of Maltese wine, and let us do a load of laundry! All this for the bargain price of 385 Euros for the week! 

Our apartment was easily walkable to two busy areas, but was still in a quiet neighbourhood! Our first expedition out was down to St. George's Bay. We took pictures at each of the intersections so we would be able to find our way back home.

St. George's Bay is packed with restaurants, shops, bars (LOTS OF BARS!) and even a bowling alley and cinema! We took a walk down to look at the beach...

...and then ate at one of the many restaurants called "Hugo's". We don't know who this Hugo person is, but he owns A LOT of stuff down here!

We spent a few sunny afternoons down at this beach, reading and soaking up the sunshine 😀

Our other favourite spot to walk to was Spinola Bay. It was a short walk down the hill (maybe 10 minutes) and you were at a beautiful harbour with more bars and restaurants and lots of beautiful walking spots.

We actually spent a lot of time down here, walking, taking photos, and eating. This is where we found the Irish Pub (for our Irish Pub Experiment)...

... among other delicious restaurants with a gorgeous view!

We were just happy to be sitting out in the sun, enjoying delicious food (did I mention you can get a bowl of olives for an appetizer) which was actually fairly inexpensive by European standards!

You could also walk around the harbour and admire the buildings. I found this place which looks like a place I would really like to get my hands on to renovate!

One of our favourite times to take photos is at night. Malta is a place where we always felt completely safe wandering around in the dark. Here is Spinola Bay at night. As a matter of fact, I think the biggest safety concern is being a pedestrian. You do NOT have the right of way here when you are crossing the street... even if you are in the crosswalk. You need to be very aware as the driver's are crazy, and since the driver's are driving on the other side of the road, you need to really pay attention!

Malta seems to be having a construction boom. I like the way the old contrasts with the new in some locations.

Malta's main religion is Roman Catholic, and you can see many religious icons as you are walking by people's houses.

Okay, there are probably a million other things I wanted to tell you, but can't remember. I really need to start writing stuff down!

After a week on the main island of Malta, we are headed off to Gozo (the smaller island) for three weeks of relaxation!