Exploring Malta in the spring

Changeable weather in March

This one was a family trip with my boyfriend’s family. Actually, it was his mom’s birthday present to travel to some warm place together. It wasn’t warmer than at home in Hungary after all, and the weather was rather changeable, but it was still nice to visit such an interesting country and culture.

It was raining on the first day, but then it got better, and sometimes it was even sunny. However, the whole time we were there – it was four days with the journey together – there was always a strong wind which made it feel cooler and we often needed our jackets. Once, I asked the taxi driver if it was always so windy in Malta, and his answer was no, he said that February and March were the windiest months. I also asked him when most tourists came to visit Malta, and he said July and August, although it could be very hot then. Well, we agreed that March was a perfect time to explore the country and do a lot of sightseeing. And if we ever go back to Malta, it won’t be in the summer!

Arriving to Malta and exploring Valetta We had a very early morning flight from Budapest to Malta, so we were there by 8 a.m. It was actually starting to rain as we got out of the airport, and we weren’t so happy about it. I even asked myself how we would be able to do a whole-day-long sightseeing in that weather, with rain and wind… But then it was more or less fine, and we also spent some time inside when we were having lunch or visiting a church. It was a nice day in Valetta, the capital city. We were walking around in the little streets and then further away to the other parts of the city, up and down the hills. If you travel to Malta, you should be prepared that you’ll need to take a lot of stairs and walk upwards in some of the streets. The famous basilica that we visited was beautiful but a bit too much for us, too decorated (after all, it’s a famous baroque church). We also visited the Saluting Battery, a popular tourist attraction, but the weather was quite bad at that time: there wasn’t only a strong wind by the see, but it also started to rain quite heavily… Anyway, it was then nice to go into a restaurant and enjoy our lunch.

In the afternoon, before heading towards our accommodation, we picked up our luggage at the place where we had stored them after our arrival. (There are a lot of options for luggage storage in Malta, and in Valetta itself, but the prices can differ.) We booked an apartment in a town called Sliema, not so far from Valetta, and it was easy to get there by bus. We were satisfied with the accommodation, it was perfect for a couple of days, especially because we only spent the nights there, and we always went to different places and even cities during the days.

Second day: Mdina and Rabat

Mdina used to be once the capital city of Malta. I was quite surprised by this fact, as it seemed to be a small town… We travelled there by bus (as always) and then we also walked quite a lot. It’s a different feeling to be there than in Valetta or the other towns next to the sea, as Mdina is further away from the coast. But its downtown is beautiful and cosy, with cute little streets (which are often narrow as well) and nice buildings. A short visit is enough for this town, one or two hours, but it definitely worths it. We had lunch in a restaurant and bough some souvenirs in a souvenir shop nearby.

After having visited Mdina, we wanted to go to another cute town, Rabat. As I checked on Google Maps, the journey was supposed to take about 15 minutes both by bus or walking, so we chose the second option (buses in Malta are overcrowded and inconvenient). It was a nice and short walk thorough a park and crossing a road, then we already found ourselves in the neighbouring town, Rabat. It wasn’t so special for us, but it’s also a great destination for a short visit, you can spend about an hour there (depending on whether you eat or drink something, too). Actually, I prefer to relax and calmly walk around downtown when I do sightseeing, especially in such a small place.

This was enough for our second day in Malta, but we still spent some time in Valetta downtown, where we always switched buses (it was like the centre of our trip).

And this is how Valetta, the capital city, look like at night:

Going to Gozo, the other island

We spent one of the days on Gozo Island. My partner’s family wanted to book an organized boat trip (with tourist bus and everything), but the two of us chose to go there by ferry and then explore some parts of the island on our own. It was actually nice to spend some time like that.

We took the High-Speed ferry, operating between the two islands, which was there in 45 minutes from Valetta. The boat inside looked like an airplane! I had been afraid of the waves and the shaking of the boat, but that time it was okay, and I asked the crew where we should sit in order not to feel that too much. Anyway, I was happy when we arrived on the other island.

Victoria and Xaghra were the two cities that we visited in Gozo. First, we ate a pizza in a pub, then we walked around in the downtown area of Victoria, and I also decided to have a small portion of ice-cream – the first time this year! The narrow, hilly streets were very cute, and we also went into a church for a small entrance fee. It was worth it, as the church was beautiful inside. Walking in those little streets, I didn’t even mind that we got a bit lost, I just didn’t want to open Google Maps to check our route, because it was actually a nice feeling to walk around there, just the two of us, and enjoy the atmosphere of the town.

When I finally opened Google Maps on my phone to see how to get to Xanghra, the other town, I saw that it took half an hour both by bus or walking, so we chose the second option. What we didn’t know was that we’d need to walk up a mountain (or bigger hill)… It was a bit tiring and tough, but we managed to get there, and we were proud of ourselves. To be honest, that was my favourite part of the whole journey: walking in the middle of the nature, in the middle of nowhere, and enjoy the quietness of it. I also like walking and exercising a bit, so it was just fine for me. 😊

Xaghra is a small town, nothing special about it, except that there’s a really old church, or rather ruins. It is older than the pyramids in Egypt, as my boyfriend, the history teacher, informed me. It gave me a special feeling that we could walk around this “church” which was built much more than five thousand years ago! There’s a museum you can visit and then walk outside to the ruins. The relatively cheap entrance fee (about ten euros) really worth it! The sun was starting to set as we were walking there, and it gave me a special feeling. It was such a calm, quiet and special place!

After all of this, we chose to take a taxi back to the harbour where our ferry left for Malta. Going back by bus would have taken a while, with changing buses, and we were already exhausted. It was a quick and cheap drive, and I had a nice conversation with the taxi driver. (I’ve already written about it.)

The boat trip back to the island of Malta was not a relaxing one at all. It was windy of course (and it was already dark in the evening), with big waves on the sea. Many people got sick and vomited, which made the ride even worse. For us, it was still bearable, because we took a pill about half an hour before departure, and it helped. Still, that 45 minutes felt like an infinity and we were very glad to arrive back to Valetta. I will think about it twice before I get on a boat again…

We still had to walk and get a bus back to our accommodation, but just like every other night, it didn’t take us long to fall asleep. We were just exhausted!

Last day in Malta

On our last day, we had to check out from the apartment by 11 a.m., which was perfect because we could still pack everything and prepare for the long day. Our flight back to Budapest was only at 22:30 p.m. at night. That means we could still visit two cities on that last day: we went to Birgu (one of the three popular cities near Valetta) and to Marsaxlokk, a famous fishing village of the island. Unfortunately, we had to travel a lot by bus, which was rather uncomfortable, but it was nice to see so many places.

After leaving our luggage in a storage in Valetta, we headed to Birgu, where we walked along the water and explored the famous fortress. We had lunch there and saw some churches, too, but this time only from the outside. It was nice to visit this town, but it wasn’t the most special one for us.

We had to travel another hour by bus, and then we got to the famous village, Marsaxlokk, which was already quite different from Valetta or some other places we had visited. But I liked it, as there were a lot of colourful boats and you can walk along the harbour, the sea… Nothing special, but very calm and relaxing. The weather was quite bad; it was already a bit cool with the wind and cloudy condition. Anyway, we decided to have a coffee and ice-cream, too. It was delicious! In Malta, it’s a bit similar to that in Italy: you can always have a stronger, delicious coffee or cappuccino, and a tasty ice-cream.

Then we went back to Valetta, walked around a bit more, and picked up our luggage to head towards the airport. Our bus was late, but we still had plenty of time to eat something for dinner and get through security at the airport. We ate at a McDonald’s which is next to the airport, but not inside the building, and then walked inside. There were surprisingly many travellers, the last planes were leaving that time. I was very happy to be able to spend some time in the Duty-Free shop. Although I usually don’t purchase anything, it is an amazing feeling for me to try our different products such as make-up and perfumes.

I love flying and my favourite flights are the ones at night. Then, people are usually calm and quiet, most travellers just want to have some rest. Although it’s dark outside, I love sitting next to the window and look out: it can be beautiful when you see the city with all its lights. This was also a very calm and peaceful flight, and I enjoyed it as much as I could. We arrived in Budapest almost half an hour ahead of schedule! Still, it was already after midnight, and we just wanted to get home after this long trip.  

Conclusions and reflexion

It was a nice journey but a bit different what we had expected. On the one hand, the weather was worse than we had thought, it was changeable and not warmer than in Hungary. But I actually didn’t mind it because it was quite ideal weather for sightseeing. On the other hand, the country was not exactly how we had imagined it before. Although it was beautiful and interesting, the public transport was not efficient, it was rather a torture to get on a bus every time we wanted to go somewhere – and they do not have any other options than buses and taxis. I could also see that it’s a very multinational and multicultural country, with people from different parts of the world. You can also feel the North-African and Arabic influence a bit. At least, it wasn’t like anything I had seen and experienced before. I think for instance of those building, all of which have the same colour and the same style, with flat roofs that are not typical for Europe… It was interesting but I was happy to come home after these intense four days in Malta. And we are glad that we didn’t go there in the peak season when it’s hot and crowded with tourists. There were enough tourists at this time of the year as well. Maybe a lot of other people thought the same as we did: it will be nice weather for sightseeing and exploring Malta.

Some tips:

• Cash vs. card: you might want to have some cash with you, but almost everywhere you can pay both in cash (in Euro) or by card
• Taxi: relatively cheap, we could use the Bolt application, just like at home (you might want to choose this option instead of the bus)
• Tickets: for buses, you can buy a 4-day or 7-day ticket, which worths it, if you want to travel a lot by public transport
• Bus: the driver will not stop in the bus stop, if the vehicle is already full – you have to wait for the next one. It’s also common to raise your hand and give a signal to the driver to stop.
• Toilets: don’t be surprised about the toilets: they have separate ones for men and women, but they often use them randomly. That means you can just use the men’s restroom if the women’s is crowded.
• Local people: they are very friendly, and everyone speaks English.
• Eating out: most restaurants sell different types of food, usually they are called pubs or something similar. The standard food that you can find everywhere are pasta, pizza and burgers. Seafood is also very common and popular.
• Tipping: usually, the service fee is not included in the bill, but sometimes it is. The best is to check it or ask the waiter.