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Welcome to Malta!
#travel #solotravel #malta #experience #challenge
Time is precious and cannot be bought.
The salty air. High level of humidity. People driving on the left side. British sockets. Narrow, mostly one-way (and one-lane!) streets. You can find parking… Haha, good one! Parking, lol. December and it’s 17oC/63oF. Welcome to Hong… Malta! Welcome to Malta!
(This comparison is so ridiculously accurate, that you can expect to see more of it as a whole post in one of the following weeks.)
It was early December. I had no plans for the rest of the year, apart from spending the holiday season with extended family. And suddenly, completely out of the blue, I get an opportunity to go visit Malta for two days. Maybe I’m not a completely normal person (as you’ve definitely noticed by now), but I’m not that crazy to go for a walking adventure for only two days. I check an option for just a while longer and BAM – four days in Malta it is. As soon as the following week. In all fairness and honesty, I impressed myself with this act.
But I just started blogging. I’ve been dealing with adding a certain subscription system to the website, and for some reason it’s not working. (Guess who’s changing the provider, lol.) I’ve only started to look into options for investment search. I’m still setting it up – although my website is 99% viable, it is still not complete. And I can only carry a backpack. But paying extra money for more luggage is not even an issue – I want to live the Malta experience truly, unburdened by any work. What do I do?
I did just one thing – shut the F*** up! Since when do I whine about good things? Or any things, for that matter! I am going to have to leave my ascending business unattended for a couple of days. SO WHAT?! I will rest my brain for the time being and recharge for new victories as soon as I return. And guess what I’m doing right now, apparently!
With this unplanned adventure, I wanted to achieve a couple of goals. One of them is very simple – visit another country in 2022. Another one was to check a potential nearby summer vacay destination. Confirmation that my newly found packing habits still work. Getting a bit more sun in the middle of a nasty winter, as well! (Sorry, winter-lovers. I’m a summer child according to every criterion – except for the date of birth.) But most of all – live the spirit of a place I had no idea I would even visit that soon! Now I can confirm with certainty that a check mark can be put next to all of these goals.
The impression of Malta is quite special and distinctive. Architecturally, you can definitely say you’re in a unique place in the world – yellow limestone bricks everywhere, seaside churches, Nativity scenes in every square and roundabout (and a large number of windows), a mix of Latin and Arabic culture in statues and ornaments, intact rocks and mostly barren land. Huge influence from the British colonial times can be felt in the atmosphere, which is still mostly a mix of ancient Latin and Arabic cultures – in words and language, as much as monuments. This is a truly unrepeatable place in the world.
On the other hand, when we’re talking about endemics, I’m not sure if we can classify the locals that way. Namely, you can hear pretty good English absolutely everywhere – even if their grammar does not always happen to be the best, you never need to repeat anything in simpler language, everyone will understand you immediately. Quite frequently can ex-Yugoslav languages be caught. Many tourist languages can be heard everywhere – English (appartently UK English), German, Chinese and Turkish, in a huge majority of cases. So – how does Maltese sound? No clue!
Allegedly, it is a combination of English and Italian. As someone who speaks 6 languages, I believe my opinion truly counts when I say I’ve not heard anything that corresponds with this description. On roughly 4 or 5 occasions, I did hear a language I was utterly unable to classify (and imagine, when I first heard Cantonese in Hong Kong, I immediately knew which language it had to be). This language sounds nothing like either Italian or English. Or the names that the bus reads out when reaching new stops. My best guess is that this was Maltese – I mean, it was probably not Aboriginal or Telugu. But that’s it – only the best guess.
When it comes to people, you know how after you’ve been at a new country for a day, you get a feeling you can easily tell the locals apart? Well guess what – that ain’t happening in Malta! The only people I could assume are locals were the elderly – as they are usually not inclined to moving at all, let alone to a distant country in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. But that is still just my best guess.
The islands of Malta and Gozo (I would say as well as Comino, which only has 4 year-long denizens) are full of people who are obviously not locals. I’ve seen countless people originating from East Asia and Africa, as well as different parts of Europe. But no one was so apparent in seeming at least remotely local. It’s still an enigma to me, and one of the most unique experiences I’ve lived through so far.
The history of the islands bases itself on the local populace and the Knights of St John, also known as The Order of Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem. This order has its own state nowadays, based in Rome (Italy) and is bound to helping humanity, mostly through charity and medical causes. However, they have shaped the history of this intriguing rock in the middle of the sea. The local specialty is rabbit meat, and the local sport is falconry. I can understand that hundreds of years ago, the falcons would probably hunt down the rabbits. But what did the rabbits eat? How did they sustain themselves? Most of the land is but a barren rock!
When you take a tour around the islands, especially Gozo, you can easily spot countless fields of green, and leveled hills, similar to the ones in Bali. Malta is most certainly not a country that is rich in greenery, but it makes a great agricultural use of its land resources. And about a good way to see them all, Malta provides “Hop on, hop off” bus tours, around each or both islands (Comino excluded, to my knowledge). The tours last for quite a few hours, and they are definitely worth taking, especially if your feet are hurting, from walking around Valetta, Sliema and St Julian’s the first day, and then Mdina and Buggiba the second day.
A super fun thing about Malta is that cities are really small in surface, especially in comparison with other European cities. For example, you will not require more than 3-4 hours of walking around Valetta (the capital) or Mdina (old capital). And each of the cities, not regarding how small or compacted, will have something new and exciting to offer. (More about what to visit in Malta will be available in the following posts.) Also, huge kudos to almost impeccable Maltese bus service – you can google any route and be pretty safe with the timetable. Everything is connected, and a 2-hour ticked costs EUR 2 / $2.13.
Long story short:
– Is this a good destination to explore in the winter?
– Absolutely!
– Is this a good seaside destination?
– If you’ve spent summers in Montenegro and know how to walk on slippery rocks, it can be. Otherwise, I wouldn’t tease destiny.
– Is it good for having a unique, local experience?
– Geographically and architecturally, absolutely. When it comes to meeting locals, I don’t know, I hope you’ll be luckier than me!
– Is it expensive?
– I know that prices vary a lot, based on the season. In June I tried to plan a short trip to Malta, and one of the cheapest hotels was around 100 EUR / $106 PER NIGHT. For four days in December, I spent the total of around 310 EUR / $330 for all the combined costs regarding the whole Exploring Malta project. If you’re looking for some fun and a quick getaway to the sea, I’d suggest March or April.
– Do you recommend it?
– Oh yes!
Comments
[…] side right). For those of you who want to find out more about the Order, you can visit one of my blog posts about Malta. Or, you can travel to Malta, where you can also find guided tours and educational movies about […]
[…] side right). For those of you who want to find out more about the Order, you can visit one of my blog posts about Malta. Or, you can travel to Malta, where you can also find guided tours and educational movies about […]
[…] side right). For those of you who want to find out more about the Order, you can visit one of my blog posts about Malta. Or, you can travel to Malta, where you can also find guided tours and educational movies about […]
[…] side right). For those of you who want to find out more about the Order, you can visit one of my blog posts about Malta. Or, you can travel to Malta, where you can also find guided tours and educational movies about […]
[…] Brussels, I cannot guarantee we ever bumped into a local. Similar to the situation in Malta, where I was unable to tell who the locals are, at all. Brussels is such an international […]
[…] Brussels, I cannot guarantee we ever bumped into a local. Similar to the situation in Malta, where I was unable to tell who the locals are, at all. Brussels is such an international […]
[…] Just to remind you of the intro to my Welcome to Malta post: […]
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