During my trip around the world in 72 days I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and revisiting places I’d been in the past. In an effort to sort of justify the trip (if only to myself) I thought I needed to also check out a few places that I hadn’t been. That’s more or less how the idea of exploring Malta was born.
I was travelling with a friend and we decided five days would be enough to explore the relatively small island, but also have a bit of time to relax and enjoy the European summer and the warm Mediterranean climate.
| July | ||
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 9th | Arrive at 1100. Explore St Julien's, walk to Sliema |
| Thursday | 10th | Drive around Malta: Marsaxlokk, St Peter's Pool, Blue Grottos, Gingli Cliffs, Rabat + Mdina, Mosta |
| Friday | 11th | Gozo day trip: Victoria, Blue Hole, Azure Window |
| Saturday | 12th | Comino Day trip |
| Sunday | 13th | Valetta |
| Monday | 14th | Return to London |
We got a budget flight from London – flying with Ryanair from Stansted to Malta.
We arrived around 1100 picked up a local Sim card and collected our rental car. It didn’t take long to discover driving in Malta is a pretty trying exercise. We eventually made it to our hotel at St Julien’s Bay, got freshened up and headed straight outside to explore.
We were staying right on the water and decided to walk along the foreshore towards Valletta to get our bearings. We passed through St Julien’s and Sliema with plenty of stops for lunch and drinks along the way.
Our lack of sleep – plus a few hours in the searing sun caught up with us pretty quickly so after an early dinner we hit the sack.
On Thursday we had an early start as we began our tour around the Island. First up we made a B-line to Marsaxlokk to check out the markets and the old port.
Then we set out to find St Peter’s Pool – which despite being only a couple of kilometers away, wasn’t all that easy to find.
After a refreshing dip we continued on our way to Hal Safi for lunch and a look around. Next up was a boat trip at Malta’s Blue Grottos.
We had a look at Dingli Cliffs on our way north to Rabat and Mdina before continuing on to Mosta.
In the afternoon we had a look at Gnejna Beach before heading back to St Julien’s.
Day three saw us hopping back in the car en route for Curjewwa to get the car ferry across to Gozo Island.
We spent the day cruising around – checking out Victoria as well as the Island’s famous Blue Hole and Azure Window.
On Saturday morning we got headed north once again to take the ferry to Comino. The famous Blue Lagoon is everything you’d expect and more. It was overrun with tourists which is a bit of a pain, but I guess it was a Saturday in the middle of the summer holidays so we couldn’t really complain.
On our last day we went into Valletta to explore.
Monday we had just enough time for breakfast and a swim before packing up and heading back to the airport.