72-Hour Guide to Malta: Maltese Cross, Fishing Boats, Crackers, Cats, and Much More!

A small airport in Malta is rather efficient: in minutes I got my passport stamped and rushed to catch X2 bus to my hotel in Paceville. The sun was warming my winter pale skin and palm trees waved their leaves in a welcoming manner. ‘Ahhh,’ I thought to myself, ‘let the Malta experience begin!’

My first impression of Malta was complete confusion. The language is based on Arabic, people look Mediterranean (think Italians mixed with Albanians), the food is similar to Italian (Sicily is only 96km away!) and predominant religion is Christianity. So for entire length of the trip, I couldn’t quite place Maltese in my mental map. I thought may be there was something wrong with my understanding of Malta, but then I read in Lonely Planet that “from its North African and Arabic influences (listen carefully to the local language) to the Sicilian-inspired cuisine, Malta is a microcosm of the Mediterranean”.[1] Historically, it’s been ruled by Romans, Arabs, French, Spanish and British, finally getting independence in 1964.[2]

With such rich history, beautiful landscape and gentle climate, Malta has become a playground for many Europeans of every age group. If you plan to visit Malta, you will probably need 4-5 days for sightseeing of the island itself. Then there are also greener and less inhabited Gozo and Comino, which are even smaller and will probably take less time to cover. Gozo has a reputation for its simple and relaxing countryside, while Comino is a former military colony and is famous for its blue waters ideal for diving and snorkeling. These three islands are home to almost half a million of people.[3]

I spent 5 days in Malta, combining rest (a la beach and outdoors pool style) with some sightseeing. There is a lot to see and do, but Malta is pretty compact so it’s rather easy to get around on public transportation and there is no need for a rental car. The daily bus card is only €2.60, which is quite a steal! But beware not all buses run often (e.g. once every 30 mins) and not all follow the timetable. One bus driver, smoking on his break, once told me: “Bus tables are no good! Take my bus, then take another at the stop A to get to point B!” So trip to a certain part of the island, which is not even that far, can take few hours with most of them spent en-route. The great thing about it though is that you get to see different areas, witness locals’ daily life, and just zoom out and clear your head.

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My top sights

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Valletta

Fun fact: Walking around Valletta, I noticed two kinds of flags. One was of Maltese Cross and another was for Valletta Football Club, featuring a fearless lion. The Maltese Cross is a national symbol of Malta and signifies the order of Christian warriors – Knights of Malta. As for the Football Club, Valletta residents are very proud of it! We happened to witness one of its victory celebrations, which looked like typical football fan festivities with lots of shouting, drinking and dancing to the loud music.

My hotel was in Paceville, so I got to know the area pretty well. Before coming to Malta, I read that this is a party zone for the whole island. Well, it is but imagine only three small streets with bars, restaurants and strip clubs, all of which come alive after 10pm. I don’t know if I am getting old and conservative, but these places didn’t look much fun. They were full of people in their teens and early 20s, who looked like they were on spring break and had to get smashed drunk as quickly as possible. The fashion choices too were doubtful- think Essex in the UK or Jersey Shore in the US. Guys sported fake tan and gelled hair, girls had hair extensions, fake nails and eye lashes and outfits that started and ended somewhere at the waistline!

However, in the mornings when the sun is still not too scorching and streets get clean from the last night’s partying, Paceville can be quite pleasant. I spent some time stretching my pale body on a small beach down the road from the Intercontinental Hotel with calm waters and a beautiful view of anchored yachts and fishing boats. Around noon in search of a good place to eat (a problem if you are not in the mood for tourist food, such as burgers, fries and pasta), I would walk along the water to St. Julian’s, which then joins Sliema. There isn’t much to do there apart from walking on the promenade, sitting at the seafront restaurant and enjoying a view of St. Julian’s Bay while catching up on the latest news and gossip.

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Mdina

Fun fact: You won’t see transport inside the walls apart from occasional car trying to navigate Mdina’s tiny streets. In fact, only following types of transportation are allowed.

Each boat has eyes, some with long eyelashes as beautiful as women’s! I asked one of the fishermen why the boats have eyes and he told me that as Maltese are superstitious, they believe eyes protect boats from the evil.

While tourists were chilling and stuffing themselves with seafood delicacies, fishermen were buzzing around their boats – some were fixing the nets; others were painting their luzzus and listening to the radio. And only cats lazily walked around in the search of shade under the boats and patiently waited for their share of the daily catch.

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Blue Grotto

With so many bays and harbours, one of Malta’s appeals is water activities and sports, which range from yachting, scuba diving, snorkeling to jet-skiing and kite-surfing. The sea is always so inviting and for Maltese most of their leisure takes place on or around its waters. Our local guide, David, tells us that many Maltese own boats and since there is only so much to do on the island, they spend most of their spring and summer weekends on the sea.

Fun fact: Blue Grotto was used for a scene of the 2004 film Troy, starring Brad Pitt.[5]

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A word about food!

On the way back from Blue Grotto, we stopped at the small café in Zurrieq to get some gelatto that my friend and I can’t live without! As we were waiting for the bus and enjoying our ice-cream fix, one of the locals hanging out by the café started talking to us. We found out he was the owner of a restaurant above the café. Aiming to make some business, he tried to persuade us to dine at his restaurant with a promise of being treated with some local cuisine.  By that point I still haven’t figured out what the local food was apart from seafood soup and national soft drink Kinnie. So the owner told us he would serve us crackers! Apparently, Maltese are very proud of their crackers!!! So, the traditional food is actually a platter of crackers (galletti), olives, different kinds of cheeses, Maltese sausage (zalzett) and other cold cuts, some pate, bread and olive oil. While this may have sounded enticing, it didn’t leave much choice or substance for my vegetarian friend so we politely declined and jumped on the bus.