3 Islands, 5 Days, Still Not Enough Time.
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Located in the Mediterranean Sea sandwiched between Sicily and the Northern Coast of Africa sits 3 small islands that make up the country of Malta. Even if you’ve never heard of Malta, you’ve most likely seen it, since it is regularly used as filming locations for some popular films and TV shows such as season 1 of Game of Thrones, Gladiator, The Count of Monte Cristo, and Popeye (whose set is now an amusement park you can visit), plus many more. The island has something for almost everyone, there are outdoor activities such as hiking, boating, snorkeling, and scuba diving. There are a few archeological sites located on the island, offering a glimpse into the past as well as influences in the food and architecture from the countless civilizations who’ve occupied Malta and left a small imprint behind. From all the places, we’ve visited on our journey, this was the easiest to get around and function, largely because English was a primary language other than Maltese. Other aspects of the Maltese language that made it easy, was that it incorporates a lot of Italian, which I’m getting better at.
Getting There and Around
Malta is just about 80 Km south of Sicily, so we took the opportunity to take the ferry instead of flying. Taking the ferry allowed us to bring our car and it was only an hour and forty-five-minute ride compared to the 45 minute flight from Catania airport. When you factor in the time it takes to get through security and waiting for luggage, both modes of transportation work out to be about the same. In true Evans’ fashion, we were running late and racing down the mountain to try and get on the ferry before it departed at 8 am and the next ferry didn’t leave until later that day.
After we parked the car, we were able to walk above deck where they had lounges to get food and drinks, slot machines, a souvenir shop and observation decks. The sea seemed rough that day and it made walking about the upper decks very unstable. Naomi fell multiple times not on her own accord, and even myself found it hard to navigate. The return trip was much smoother, so I think we chalk this up to a rough sea and not to the ferry being a bad ride. After we entered The Grand Harbor, we got the announcement to return to our cars and prepare to embark.
Malta is the first country we’ve visited and didn’t rely completely on public transportation and where they drive on the left-hand side of road, so we knew this would be an adventure the minute we rolled off the boat. Despite taking Cassandra’s Skoda, I was tasked with driving duties this trip and to be completely honest, I was a little nervous at first but after a little bit, I got the hang of it and found it fun. As I navigated the roundabouts from the opposite side, switchbacks up and down the mountain, I gained more and more confideance in my ability to drive on the other side of the road. Regardless, of how you get to Malta, most of the places you want to visit are spread out and not always near a bus stop. This can really add up if you decide to take an Uber everywhere, so the best course of action is to rent a car and hope for the best.
Home-base during our stay was in Gzira, which had a bunch of restaurants, coffee shops, and convenience stores. It was also easily walkable to Sliema where there were more restaurants and shopping as well as a passenger ferry you could take across the bay to the capital Valletta. There were other very nice cities throughout the island but they weren’t as compact as these 3 were, so we would have had to drive and fight for parking both wherever we were going and when we got home.
There Is Fun For Everyone
As fascinating as we’ve found all the things that we’ve seen these past 6 months, not all of it has been very entertaining, probably for Vanessa and Naomi. This trip we planned a few kid-centric stops on our journey. The first stop after getting off the ferry was at the Malta National Aquarium. It wasn’t very big, so it won’t take a long time to see everything the aquarium had to offer but they did have some cool features especially for the kids. There was a mini clear tunnel to walk through that was the perfect size for Naomi, where fish swam over top of you and there was a sunken statue. Naomi probably walked back and forth through it at least ten times. Then I carried her through the regular sized tunnel where sharks and other fish swam over us. They even had a simulation ride where you are dropped in a submersible from the deck of a ship down probably several 100 meters into the ocean. On your way to the bottom, you see various species of fish before being attacked by a giant squid. Vanessa was lucky enough to ride this twice with Cassandra and I, since Naomi was too little.
We got day 2 started with a kids themed played at Teatru Manoel. It is in Valletta and is supposedly the 3rd oldest working theater in Europe. We were hoping to go inside and walk around but the kids show entrance was around the corner from the main entrance. Regardless, we entered a room with built in risers on one side and the stage on the other. To be completely honest with you, I’m not sure what the play was about but it contained a barn owl who was trying to fly up to its nest and its friends it saw along the way. Naomi really seemed to enjoy it, especially since it was interactive with music and lights. She really enjoyed helping the owl build its nest after the wind had blown it away and touching the owl and instruments after the show.
The rest of the second day was spent wandering the streets of Valletta, where we explored some jewelry shops on our way down to St. Elmo’s fort and St. Elmo’s bridge. We got about halfway to the bridge before Cassandra determined that the path was too rocky and wet and with no guardrails to proceed. Both Vanessa and Naomi explored too close to the edge so it would only be a matter of time before one of them slipped and fell off the side.
The day was capped off by a visit to the St. John’s Co-Cathedral. This had the longest line out of any attraction we visited in Malta. Our tickets came with an audio tour of the cathedral which was very nice since it explained in detail the different sections of the tour. The cathedral was set up as a large room with several smaller rooms off to the side. Each room had a central painting or statue joined by frescos painted on the ceiling. But the thing that stood out to me the most was golden reliefs that filled the space between paintings. There was so much that it gave the room the appearance that it was glowing, which stood in contrast to the last room I visited, the Oratory, that contained the painting called The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. Where the rest of the cathedral glowed, this room was darker which fitted the theme of Caravaggio’s painting where the focal point, the beheading of St. John, was painted as if standing under a streetlight and the rest of the painting was shrouded in shadows just outside the light.
After a day in the capital, we spent the next day in the more rural part of Malta, hiking along the northern coast of Gozo Island alongside the Salt Pans toward the costal gorge, Wied il-Ghasri. I use the term hiking loosely since we walked along the path admiring the coast line and the Salt Pans, we realized it was going to take too long with Naomi to do this hike, walk down the cliff to the gorge, back up the cliff and back towards the car, so we walked the Salt Pans, walked back and drove to the parking area at the top of cliff before walking down to the Gorge. The salt pans were amazing, unfortunately we missed the harvest season so there was nobody out combing the pans for the remaining sea salt after the water had evaporated.
There is a common theme with most of our hikes, which I carry Naomi up and down the side of a cliff, she squirms, and I try not to drop her. This time after walking along the salt pans she was a willing traveler as I traversed the rocky steps leading down to the gorge. When we got to the bottom, there were several people sunbathing and having a picnic as well as a kayaker and a few cliff jumpers. I did wade into the water which was cold but not as cold as the gorge we visited back in Sicily, where I thought my feet would be covered in ice after I got out. However, I found a nice rock to sit on, with my feet in the water and just admired the turquois water for a split second before realizing that Naomi was trying to run out into the water and parenting duties resumed.
After everyone had a few moments to just relax a bit and prepare for the hike back up, we headed back to the car for our last stop of the day, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Blessed Virgin of Ta’Pinu, which has hosted two different popes. This church doesn’t sit on the side of a cliff, however it’s at a high point on the island, giving it the illusion that it sits on the cliff giving you a view of the sea behind it as you approach. The church could have easily stood in for the church of the Faith of the Seven in Game of Thrones. In front of the church is a large open courtyard allowing Vanessa and Naomi to stretch their legs and run around, with the focal point being the 4 mosaics depicting the life of Jesus from the annunciation to the resurrection. The inside is rather plain compared to the other churches we’ve seen throughout Europe, but it was peaceful, and they had a string quintet playing so we sat down and listened for a bit, soaking in the ambience, before heading out.
The next day’s adventures didn’t turn out the way we had envisioned but I think it may have worked out for the best. The original plan was to get up, head to the market to grab some food to take with us, a swimsuit for Naomi, then get on a boat for a full day boating excursion around Malta. What happened was we took too long to get out the door, couldn’t find any lunch options that wouldn’t spoil if left outside since we didn’t have a cooler, and we got to the pier just in time to see the boat leave the harbor. This is just another failed attempt to take a boat out while on vacation, however this one was self-inflicted whereas the other trips were cancelled due to weather.
However, we weren’t going to let a missed boat ruin our day. We sat down at a café near the pier to have some breakfast and coffee and figure out what we were going to do for the rest of the day. Cassandra was lucky enough to find another boat that left at 2 in the afternoon and would take us to the Blue Lagoon and charter us around the island of Cominio, the smallest of the 3 islands and population of 2. So, with a few hours to kill, we headed to Paradise Bay which is a beach close to the meet point to relax by the sea, snorkel, play in the sand, and have lunch.
There was a large parking lot at the beach and short steep walk down the cliff to the water. I was expecting the water to be a little cold since it was the middle of October, but after a bit, it wasn’t too bad. I carried Naomi out into the water and let her splash around before she heading back to the beach to play in the sand. Vanessa and I stayed in the water to swim around and snorkel and I tried to get her to climb up on a rock to jump off. To give Vanessa credit, it was me who stopped her and not because I thought it was too dangerous but because I didn’t want to disrupt of destroy whatever vegetation was growing on the rocks we would have to step on to get to the top. Cassandra and I traded Naomi for Vanessa and played some more before drying off and heading back up to grab some lunch. The beach was a little crowded even for a Monday, but we didn’t have a problem finding a spot to lay our towels down and not feel too crowded. The bay also has some spectacular views and great angles to watch the sunset in the evening.
The other bonus to our beach choice was it’s proximity to the departure point of our boat excursion. We had a goal and a promise to Vanessa not to miss this boat, so we uncharacteristically arrived at the meet point almost 15-20 minutes early. Sea Life Cruises was a family run business and our captain for the day was the brother while the sister scanned our tickets at the dock. This boat was much smaller than the one we missed earlier in the day, so it wasn’t as crowded and felt more personal. The first stop was to Crystal Lagoon where we jumped off and swam in some caves. There were several boats moored here but it wasn’t as crowded as the next stop and provided some great snorkeling.
The longest we stayed moored around Cominio was at Blue Lagoon probably because this is the selling point of the cruises. It’s the largest cove around the island and what is pictured on all the promotional flyers because of its clear blue water and the shadows gives the impression that the boats are floating in the air. With all of that said, it also draws the largest crowds. There were food trucks and souvenir vendors lining the path from the dock to the top of this hill. We decided to avoid this and just swam and snorkeled. If you really want to enjoy this location, the best opportunity would be early in the morning before the crowds arrive. We finished the trip with a cruise around the island exploring its network of caves and headed back to port around sunset.
To avoid having to wake up super early, we decided to book the return ferry ride back to Sicily in the evening. This allowed us time to explore a few last things on our agenda, mainly an archeological site called Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples on the southern coast. The most impressive aspects to these sites where the sheer feat of how they erected the large limestone pillars into place almost 5,000 – 6,000 years ago. Even more impressive is the fact that at the Mnajdra site, there is a chamber whose window allows for perfect alignment on the solstices and equinoxes through the year. This site along with other sites around the globe make it less coincidental and more purposeful that these builders had far more knowledge than history gives them. If you enjoy history or the idea of the possibility of a forgotten ancient civilization, then try and fit this into your agenda.
Overall Malta was a wonderful place to visit, and I would highly recommend it since it has something for everyone to enjoy. Even after our 5 days there, there was still so much to experience and explore or simply go and lounge by the beach for a relaxing vacation. I hope you enjoyed this and I’ve provided you some ideas for your own trip or made you want to book your next vacation there. Until next time.
