Malteser
Over the Easter break - which already feels years away! - I fled the relentless grey skies, dampness and drizzle of London to the islands of Malta and Gozo. I’d never been before, but had long been intrigued by tales of these historic and culturally unique islands that sit between Europe and Africa, and have been fought over by numerous Empires, desperate to secure their strategic position between two continents. Family and friends who have visited came back full of enthusiasm, telling stories of blue skies and endless sea, the dazzle of ancient buildings of cream stone lit by ever-present sunshine, enormous and ornate churches, and a fascinating blend of East-meets-West in its architecture. I added it to my list of places to go, but it was only after waking up to what felt like the sixth week of relentless rain that I was propelled to book tickets - googling ‘where is hot in Europe in April?’ and finding Malta almost at the top of the list meant I was finally sold!
I could spend pages waxing lyrical about how glorious Malta is. The capital, Valletta, is built around its fortified harbour, which now houses a fascinating museum that is well worth a visit, as it explains the history of the island and the role of the different conquering powers, as well as the original rulers of the islands, the Knights, all of whom have shaped the Malta you see today (and for those of you who watch The Crown, it’s where Prince Philip and the then Princess Elizabeth lived and worked during the brief window of married life before Elizabeth became Queen). Its streets are steep and crowded with beautiful historic town houses featuring Malta’s distinctive wooden balconies, and everywhere you look, there are enormous and richly decorated churches that demonstrate the importance of religion to the islanders. Valletta has a stunning cathedral, a lovely palace, and plenty of piazzas with cafes where you can sit and while away the day people watching in the sun. From pretty much every street you can see the sea, and there are beautiful gardens up on the old ramparts outside the fort you can also sit in and have a drink while watching the boats sail past on the water below. The main old city of Valletta is very small, and you can walk around it in 20 minutes or so - but it is packed with places to visit and things to see, and we didn’t get time to go across the water to the Three Cities area which contains just as much history - we had to save that for next time.
While on Malta, we also took a day trip to the fortified ‘city’ of Mdina, half an hour inland from Valletta, and easily accessible by the public bus service (the public transport on Malta is all electric, extremely reliable, regular, and cheap - you don’t need a car at all). We were expecting it to be a quick visit, but found ourselves so charmed and transported by this magical slice of history that we ended up staying all day. You walk in under an enormous ancient gate, that leads you into a warren of warm yellow stone walls housing beautiful homes, restaurants and churches, and opening up every now again into unexpected piazzas where you can sit and take in the beauty of your surroundings. For a tiny place, you can wander around for ages and not find your way back to where you started, so maze-like does it feel inside. You can also walk around the perimeter walls and take in the stunning views across the Maltese countryside and out to sea. It’s a popular tourist destination due to having been a filming location for Game of Thrones, but it certainly didn’t feel overcrowded. Not having watched Game of Thrones ourselves, we were initially perplexed when a large crowd of tourists came to photograph the outside of the very pretty but not especially remarkable looking cafe we were eating in, until our waiter informed us ‘this is the brothel.’ We clearly chose well when selecting our breakfast spot!
After three days on Malta, we hopped on the public ferry to Gozo, the smaller sister island a 30 minute sail away. Quieter and more rural, Gozo certainly feels very different to what locals consider the ‘mainland’ of Malta, and it has a wide array of beaches and watersports, which Malta lacks. We stayed in a beautiful farmhouse for four days, and adored every minute. A twenty minute walk down the road, through the pretty and historic village streets and wending through the shrubby countryside beyond, took us to a beautiful beach with turquoise water lapping the shore. Twenty minutes in the other direction took us down to the harbour, where we caught the open top tour bus around the island. We took in the island capital, Victoria, which is a smaller and quieter, but no less beautiful and historic, version of Valletta, Gozo’s enormous cathedral, and several beaches, before settling on Ramla Bay for the afternoon. This is a gorgeous red sand beach where any building - including hotels - is banned, and so it’s just a beach, a beach cafe, and nothing else for miles around - pure bliss. Calypso’s cave of Greek legend perches on the cliffs above the beach, and the place feels almost untouched by the passing of time since those mythical days. We were sharing the beach with hardly any people, considering it’s considered Malta and Gozo’s best beach, and the cafe served delicious food - something we found everywhere we went on the islands. The Maltese certainly know how to use their local ingredients to make delicious, largely Sardinian inspired food, and we were very happy to try the cuisine at every opportunity!
We adored our time on these beautiful islands, and despite their small size, we both felt by the end of our week’s stay that we had barely scratched the surface. If you love history, then this is the destination for you - the combination of Arabic and Turkish inspired architecture rubbing alongside Italian and Greek influenced buildings is like nothing I’ve ever seen anywhere else in the world, and then there’s the red telephone boxes and post boxes that spring up surprisingly, reminding you of the fact that Malta only stopped being a British colony in the 1970s. The EU has funded a huge amount of restoration work on the island, and the development of numerous museums, all of which are innovative and genuinely fascinating to explore. While there are a lot of problems - locals will talk to you about the governmental corruption, the lack of women’s rights, and lack of work opportunities for young people - things are changing and the islands are modernising rapidly. I can’t recommend a visit enough!