Visting Malta

In search of some sunshine, we decided to get away to Malta for a few days after Christmas. Malta had never been somewhere I’d even thought about visiting, so I had no expectations at all.

We stayed in Valletta at The Embassy Hotel (we usually go Air BnB but thought a hotel with this view would be worth trying!). It’s in a great location and the staff there are brilliant. It has a rooftop bar and restaurant which has fabulous view over Valletta. They also have a small rooftop pool which was quiet (at this time of year!).

View from The Embassy hotel rooftop bar

Golden Bay

The weather was sunny – around 17 degrees, perfect for a dip in the sea (although everyone else on the beach was in puffa jackets) at Golden Bay which was beautiful, with it’s chiringuito bar packed with coffee drinkers. They had a lovely range of cakes and mince pies, which is perfect for a mince pie addict like me.

Gozo on New Year’s Eve

We visited Gozo on the fast ferry and had lunch at Qbajjar restaurant – a bustling restaurant (it was New Year’s Eve). Lots of seafood as you can imagine. Lovely service. I hadn’t done my research properly and had booked it without actually looking at any maps. I had imagined the island would be tiny and we’d be able to walk from the ferry to the restaurant. I was wrong. Although the distance wasn’t massive, it wasn’t walkable so we ended up jumping on a tour bus and going to the nearest village then getting a taxi (really easy even in the remotest parts). Gozo is a tiny island but walking from one side to another would take more than the 30 minutes that I’d allocated!

Legligin restaurant, Valletta

It wasn’t easy to find tables at short notice in Valletta but we managed to eat a Legligin | a tiny restaurant with a set menu of one dish each course (there were 7 courses). It was almost like a portion that would be for one person arrived cut or divided into four. There was a tasty aubergine parmigiana, board of Maltese dips, a bowl of meaty pasta (I had said I didn’t eat meat, but by this point I was full so this didn’t worry me) and then a dessert each. Super friendly service, great wine choices. It’s pretty quirky and great if you’re happy to eat whatever is brought out. Which we were. And I think the menu was about 40 Euros, which seemed ok.

Dips at Legligin

Prices are about the same as in the UK for restaurant food. Alcohol seems relatively cheaper.

New Year’s Eve in Valletta

On New Year’s Eve, most restaurants were fully booked – we found two possible places – the bar below the hotel had a Japanese set menu for 120E and our local wine bar had a table where we could order cheese and meat boards. We opted for the one that didn’t cost 120Euros!

Why Not? Wine bar (not such a local name) was a tiny two storey bar, with not a huge amount of atmosphere empty, but on New Year’s Eve, it was packed with people sharing huge boards of cheese and meats. We had one of these boards and it was good (we know a little bit about cheese and meat). And it was very pricey. Not quite sure if it was actually worth it, but it is super tough running a venue and making a profit, so I’m not judging. We had a really fun time sampling some of their wine list before making our way to Café Royale a microscopic night club / bar on the steep steps down to the harbour. The revellers were spilling onto the steps and a drag artist competition was in full swing. Just before midnight, sparklers were handed out to us all and as the New Year arrived and a firework display kicked off above the harbour.WE left at 2.30am and the fun was continuing.

The atmosphere was extremely relaxed, friendly and not at all threatening. Valletta is a tiny city and easy to walk around. We briefly took a drive around St Julien, which is very party vibe / nighclubs etc. We were better suited to Valletta, but St Julien looks like fun (from a distance!)

Rabat and Medina

We got a taxi to Rabat and Medina, the walled town, which is beautiful, almost like a film set (in fact, it’s been used for something I can’t remember what sorry). Rabat is a lovely little town with the oldest burial sites in Europe (worth a visit) and a great place to sit in the sun and have lunch. Which we did in a little tapas style bar near the central square.

Marsaxlokk

Our taxi driver friend has recommended the Sunday market at Marsaxlokk, a cute seaside town. It was very busy and taxis were queuing in to the one way system to the market. The market was half food half clothes, kitchen ware, bits and pieces. Very crowded but a nice way to spend a bit of time on a sunny Sunday watching the market and colourful boats. All the restaurants were fully booked, so we we made our way back to Valletta in a taxi – again easy to do.

More eating in Valletta

Other places we ate in Valletta – Aaron’s kitchen – a traditional (bit old fashioned) family restaurant. Some Maltese treats such as noodle pancakes (not entirely sure if worth ordering this), the garlic aubergine dips which were tasty (not amazing, but tasty) and seafood spaghetti which is one of our go-tos. The octopus was good apparently.

Noodle cakes

Octopus

Sally’s Port pizzeria

Situated on the road by the seafront, Sally’s Port is a fun place to people watch. The outside seating area is across the road from the actually restaurant kitchen, so watching staff and chefs running across the road delivering pizzas was fun (for us, definitely not for them). They were also feeding about 40 young football players with tiny pizzas so the atmosphere was energetic especially when Santa came to visit them! Good pizza and an easy place to be.

Pizza chefs crossing

The final day in Valletta

One of my favourites places was Porticello, a gorgeous seafront Sicilian restaurant that we went to on our last day. The last day often feels like you’re biding your time to go to the airport, but having lunch here really made us feel we had another day’s holiday. Beautiful views, super service and the best spaghetti vongole! We walked along the coast from our hotel and the views were stunning. I wished I’d brought my swimming costume as the little ladders into the clear sea looked so inviting.

Seafront Valletta

Spaghetti Vongole

Malta

Malta is a fascinating place – and it has all sorts of political challenges ( the murder of investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was researching corruption, questions around gambling money / tax havens to name but a few) – which I hadn’t known about before going. It has changed my view on the place. And it’s hard to know how to respond as the local people and businesses still need tourism. And there are very few countries that are untainted.

It has a strong flavour of Englishness – everyone speaks English, many shops still have English names, reflecting the historic English influences mixed with Arabic sounding words and language and the architecture is reminiscent of Sicilian towns. People were very friendly and welcoming. Christmas time was not too busy and the weather was good. I’ll leave you to make up your mind.