Travel Date: December 2016
A short flight away from Zurich is Malta: one of the smallest but most densely populated countries in the World with a UNESCO heritage national capital city which also happens to be the smallest in the European Union.
Here, cars drive on the left, public transportation works, English is an official 2nd language and Malta's numerous conquests - by Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, French and British - have given the country a unique melting-pot culture and a ton of sights to see.
Visit Logistics
There are over 25 flights a day connecting Zurich to Malta with the quickest taking a little over 2 hours. The Tallinja Explore card available at the Malta Luqa airport (for €21) allows unlimited travel during a 7-day period and connects all of the Maltese islands.
Most of the bars, restaurants and hotels are in the Sliema area of Malta and that is where we ended up staying. Valletta, however, is Malta's capital and the main transportation hub of Malta and most parts of the island, including Sliema, are connected to other parts of the island by buses that pass through the historic capital.
We also made our trip to Malta over the Christmas holiday period. Quite a few restaurants and sights were closed for the season and though the island had just as much traffic as ever, it did make the tourist attractions a little less crowded. The driving force behind the timing of the visit was a desperate need for tropical weather (or at least slightly warmer weather) after experiencing several continuous days of snow.
Malta's Many Flavors
Traveling with a 2-year-old and with another baby a few months away, we needed to keep the pace slow and relaxed and that is mostly what we did. While a distinct change of pace from most of our usual holidays, it seemed to work for the time of year and our state of mind.
These are some of our recommendations of must-see and must-do things in Malta from categories culinary, cultural and historic.
1. Visiting Valletta
Valletta is one of the 3 UNESCO heritage sites in Malta and the most easily accessible from Sliema, if you've bringing along a 2-yr-old. Valletta is even worth doing twice - once by day and once by night. Accessible from anywhere on the Sliema waterfront by Bus numbers 13, 14, 16 and 22, Valletta is a 20 minute journey away and most buses will make a stop right outside the old city gates and at the Triton fountain.
Valletta was mostly constructed as a response to the 16th Century siege of Malta in a grid-like system, consisting of a series of roads neatly intersecting to form a series of blocks of buildings, making it easy to walk around and navigate using a simple tourist map.
As can be seen in the map, Valletta is located at the tip of a peninsula with the narrow roads sloping sharply downwards as it nears the tip of the peninsula.
Valletta's first two sites to see are the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens, located along the Eastern length of this peninsula.
Originally constructed as a recreational area for the Knights of the Order of St. John, the Upper Barrakka Gardens were opened to the public after the end of the French occupation of the Island in the early 20th century. Also, these gardens are the highest point of the city walls of Valletta and gives the best view from the city overlooking the Grand Harbour of Valletta Bay and the fortified 3 cities of Birgu, Cospicua and Senglea.
The Lower Barrakka Gardens provide a slightly different view than the upper gardens - with a better view of ships entering the harbour and a view of the impressive Upper Gardens.
The lower gardens has a lot more greenery and also a monument to Sir Alexander Ball, one of the leaders in the defense against the French in the late 18th Century.
The lower gardens also has the Siege Bell memorial - with a belfry and bell that chimes at noon every day - constructed to commemorate the loss of life in WW2.
St. John's Co-Cathedral is a Roman cathedral dedicated to St. John the Baptist and has an unassuming and plain visitor's entrance (not the main entrance) located on Republic Street in Valletta. The interior, is a completely different story, and is a stunning example of the kind of baroque catholic architecture found in Europe. With intricately carved walls, vaulted ceiling and sculptures in gold and bronze, the interior are a great contrast to the simple exterior. Then entire marble floor is a series of tombstones and supposedly houses 400 Knights and officers of the Order of St. John.
There are plenty of other sights within Valletta that are worth taking in, such as Grandmaster's Palace, The Malta Experience (light and sound show about Malta's history), War Museum and many more. With a 2-year-old, we chose a less arduous itinerary and instead took in the Valletta and 3-cities tour of the bay.
Apart from letting us and the little dude sit down for a bit, the cruise on the bay is the least strenuous and a less expensive way to get a quick view of a few 'Game of Thrones' filming locations.
Valletta is also pretty good to visit at dusk and has a little toy train (costing about €6) that runs around the city's sights.
2. Historic Old Malta - Mdina, Victoria Lines and Mosta
Before Malta's capital shifted to other more strategic and fortified options, Mdina right through the middle ages and until the early part of the 16th century was Malta's capital.
Now, with a population of under 300 people and with very limited traffic allowed in through its gate, it has become known as 'The Silent City' and is one of Malta's premier tourist attractions. Within its walled fortifications lie cobbled curved roads, chapels and cathedrals and a whole lot of history - some of it dating back to the 8th century BC when it was founded.
Inside Mdina
Walk Around: The most interesting thing to do in Mdina is simply walk through the Mdina Gate and take it all in - the quiet streets, high walls, tiny doorways.
Mdina Cathedral (St. Paul's Cathedral) was founded in the 12th Century and supposedly built on the location where St. Paul was met after he was shipwrecked on Malta.
The Carmelite Church in Mdina was built in the late 17th century.
Past Bastion Square inside Mdina lies the boundary wall of Mdina. From there is a view to the wide open spaces of the Ta'Qali region and town of Mosta.
Around Mdina
The Victoria Lines are ancient fortifications built in the late 19th century (sort of like a Great Wall of Malta, if you will), that run through the towns of Mosta and Rabat, to the North-West of Mdina.
Mosta and the Mosta Rotunda is a Roman Catholic church built in the mid-19th Century and based on the Pantheon in Rome. During WW2, the close proximity of the church to the airfield meant that it received aerial bombardment. In April 1942, the Luftwaffe dropped 3 bombs onto the church with 2 deflecting before exploding. One 500 kg bomb came through the rotunda into the church during the service. The bomb did not explode and was then defused and dumped into the sea. This was interpreted as a miracle by the inhabitants of Mosta and a similar bomb is now displayed at the back of the church.
3. Malta's Southern Coast
A fairly complicated bus-ride away from Marsaxlokk (you need to take bus 119 to the airport and then bus 201 to Rabat) is the Blue Grotto and Blue Grotto Panorama. Even though this was closed at this time of the year due to rough seas (see photos), it is still a spectacular piece of coastline. What is still visible and wonderfully visible from this stretch of coast is Filfla, a small uninhabited islet about 5km off the coast that is now a protected bird sanctuary.
4. Gozo Island
At the North-westerly tip of Malta lies the Cirkewwa ferry terminus. It is the jumping-off point for a 20-min trip to the island of Gozo. With scenic hills, a coastal drive (to rival anything in California) that links sights of wonderful natural beauty and a fortified citadel in the center of the island, Gozo is well worth a visit.
With a jeep waiting for us at the Gozo ferry terminal, the visit to Gozo took on the form of a kind of road trip with Gozo's natural wonders studding a winding necklace of road.
Our first stop was the viewpoint over Ramla Bay. Supposedly the best beach in Gozo or even Malta, this underdeveloped beach was almost empty on the day we stood over it. A small path from Ramla beach leads to Calypso cave, which is thought to be a cave referred to in Homer's Odyssey where Calypso, the nymph of the sea kept Odysseus a prisoner for 7 years.
Our next stop was a little section of coastline on the Northern part of Gozo - a checkered formation of salt pans just outside the town of Marsalforn. These 350-year-old Marsalforn Salt Pans, stretching along for 3 km aren't just a tourism attraction now but also represent a traditional method of salt production.
The Wied-il-Mielah window is a natural limestone arch located on the North western coast of Gozo. The viewpoint to the window can be approached by a narrow flight of steps leading up from a slender river.
The Azure window was a 28-metre natural arch located on the Western coast of Gozo. The biggest tourist attraction in Gozo, it collapsed in March 2017 after a storm.
Near the Azure window is the Inland Sea, a lagoon of seawater connected to the Mediterranean through a natural arch.
Our penultimate stop on the drive around Gozo was the Citadella, a citadel of Victoria, the capital of Gozo. Populated since the Bronze age, the citadel has been a gunpowder fortress during times of war or a castle refuge for the people during times of siege. The Citadella also contains others buildings inside, including churches and a cathedral.
Our last stop on the Gozo tour was at Qlendi bay for some time on the beach, with gelato and pebbles.
5. For the Kids - the Malta Aquarium
Located at the tip of Bugibba, the Malta National Aquarium is a 50-min bus ride from Sliema. Divided into different zones representing the different waters around Malta, the aquarium featured, as far as one little boy was concerned, one moray eel that was equally delighted to see him. His day was made and we parents ambled along behind him carefree, for a change.
6. Malta's Culinary delights
When visiting Mdina, if you feel the sun beating down and if you feel like you've been walking around a while and are feeling little peckish, then make sure you break for lunch and some cake at Fontanella Tea Garden. They have a wide variety of enormously-portioned homemade cakes and serve a range of food and drinks including the traditional pastizzis (pastry parcels filled with ricotta or peas), sandwiches, pies, pizzas and salads. Seating upstairs comes with a view and though the restaurant is popular and very busy, it is worth the wait. When I realised they had a chocolate-mint creation, I knew we'd made the right decision to break for a coffee.
Another kid-friendly restaurant in Malta is Mamma-Mia in the Ta'-Xbiex Yacht Marina area of Malta. With colour-pop decor and a wide-ranging menu, we met friends with their family for a decidedly non-traditional Christmas week dinner.
Post-dinner, we all walked along the waterfront and stepped out of the December-late-night-chill and in to Busy Bee Msida Coffee shop, one of the oldest and traditional coffee and cake houses in Malta. Packed well past bedtime, filled with cups of aromatic coffee and confectionery, this was a proper old-fashioned coffee house. We settled in for coffee and conversation and were commanded to try the cannoli with ricotta. How could we refuse?
Summarizing
In summary, the coffee shop was quite representative of our week in Malta - warm, welcoming, traditional, filled with history but occupied by young people aware of the stories of the past and proud of the things that have gone before.
We filled our week with food, culture, history and fish. We'd go back in an instant.
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