Tell us about your Malta experiance.
July 5, 2005 9:39 AM Subscribe
Have you ever been to Malta?
We're thinking about taking our honeymoon in Malta. Everything we've seen makes it sound like an awesome place to vacation: low crime rate, beautiful scenery, lots of opportunities for swimming / snorkeling / etc., an awful lot of history lying around, english-speaking population, decent public transportation system.
Are we totally off base here? Is there anything that we should know before we go? Is there anything we should definitely see / avoid?
We're thinking about taking our honeymoon in Malta. Everything we've seen makes it sound like an awesome place to vacation: low crime rate, beautiful scenery, lots of opportunities for swimming / snorkeling / etc., an awful lot of history lying around, english-speaking population, decent public transportation system.
Are we totally off base here? Is there anything that we should know before we go? Is there anything we should definitely see / avoid?
Went there for a week about 12 years ago. There are (almost) no sand beaches, so if that's your thing, don't go. But, there is an AMAZING amount of history packed into a very small space. Neolithic, Roman, Renaissance, WWII all smushed together. It's very dramatic scenery. We rented a car and I'm glad we did. Never tried pub trans (but we were with a semi-disabled person part of the time). Be warned, they drive (or at least the did) on the left side and are the craziest drivers I've ever encountered - must be the middle eastern part of the culture. But we survived!
As for construction, I think that must be the case constantly, since it was like that 12 years ago too. One cool thing is everything is built of big sandstone blocks, just like 1000 or 2000 years ago. I have a chunk of it as a paperweight on my desk. See everything. I don't remember any big disappointments at all. Very impressive place.
Food was pretty good (I remember wonderful bread and lots and lots of seafood). We rented an apartment for the week so I can't tell you about hotels.
Enjoy the trip! And congrats, mazel tov!
posted by johngumbo at 11:01 AM on July 5, 2005
As for construction, I think that must be the case constantly, since it was like that 12 years ago too. One cool thing is everything is built of big sandstone blocks, just like 1000 or 2000 years ago. I have a chunk of it as a paperweight on my desk. See everything. I don't remember any big disappointments at all. Very impressive place.
Food was pretty good (I remember wonderful bread and lots and lots of seafood). We rented an apartment for the week so I can't tell you about hotels.
Enjoy the trip! And congrats, mazel tov!
posted by johngumbo at 11:01 AM on July 5, 2005
Never been there, but apparently there's a particular place where you can snorkle over a set of ruins that are located at a relatively shallow (perhaps 10m) depth. Sadly, diving is not allowed right there, but still sounds an amazing experience given the crystal-clear waters of the Mediterranean.
The Med is generally a lovely place to scuba dive -- taking a diving course in those parts would be a fun, social and romantic way to spend one's vacation.
posted by gentle at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2005
The Med is generally a lovely place to scuba dive -- taking a diving course in those parts would be a fun, social and romantic way to spend one's vacation.
posted by gentle at 11:41 AM on July 5, 2005
How long are you planning on going for?
I think we were there maybe five days and I felt like I saw enough. Popeye's village (where the movie filmed) was actually neat. I was expecting it to be lame.
posted by 6550 at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2005
I think we were there maybe five days and I felt like I saw enough. Popeye's village (where the movie filmed) was actually neat. I was expecting it to be lame.
posted by 6550 at 11:59 AM on July 5, 2005
Response by poster: We have two weeks (actually 13 days) that we can use.
posted by bshort1974 at 12:08 PM on July 5, 2005
posted by bshort1974 at 12:08 PM on July 5, 2005
I spent about a week and a half there last summer, and I enjoyed it, although I wouldn't say I was especially impressed by the place. Generally speaking I'm not a fan of hot, dusty Mediterranean countries, which may have coloured my experience somewhat. Also, we were on a typical 'holiday sun' package tour from England -- during the summer months it seems there are a lot of these package holidays, and the overcrowded tourist towns were heaving with coaches, sun-seekers, and tacky entertainment. It wasn't really my cup of tea, and I'm guessing it's probably not what you're looking for either. If I remember right, the big holiday towns were in the area around Bugibba, so you might want to give that a miss.
Having said all of that, I enjoyed walking around Valletta and Mdina. Valletta is a living city with modern shops and so on, which gives you a good taste of native life. It also has a few historic buildings -- we visited the palace and the cathedral, which were both interesting to look around inside -- and a couple of museums.
The old walled part of Mdina is full of picturesque narrow streets, and is very peaceful. Definitely worth a visit.
On the whole, I wouldn't exactly say the place is heaving in culture and history -- if you're particularly looking for that, I'd stick to mainland Europe -- but certainly there's enough there for a casual visitor.
The buses are fun -- most of the fleet are big ageing yellow things from the war years. Try it at least once so you can say you've been on a Maltese bus.
Try and find a village festa to go to. Most of the villages have an annual festival day (for their saint, I think). They deck the church out all fancy, have fireworks and a marching band through the streets, with a bunch of sweet stalls and that kind of thing.
For swimming and snorkelling, there are plenty of places where the water's really good. But again we found that some places were spoiled by overcrowding. There are lots of boat trips that visit certain bays around the island and drop you off for a swim -- these'll be the most crowded places.
I hope all this doesn't sound too negative -- on the whole I had a pretty good time there. But do set your expectations at the right level: it's really not an unspoilt paradise island or anything like that.
posted by chrismear at 12:57 PM on July 5, 2005
Having said all of that, I enjoyed walking around Valletta and Mdina. Valletta is a living city with modern shops and so on, which gives you a good taste of native life. It also has a few historic buildings -- we visited the palace and the cathedral, which were both interesting to look around inside -- and a couple of museums.
The old walled part of Mdina is full of picturesque narrow streets, and is very peaceful. Definitely worth a visit.
On the whole, I wouldn't exactly say the place is heaving in culture and history -- if you're particularly looking for that, I'd stick to mainland Europe -- but certainly there's enough there for a casual visitor.
The buses are fun -- most of the fleet are big ageing yellow things from the war years. Try it at least once so you can say you've been on a Maltese bus.
Try and find a village festa to go to. Most of the villages have an annual festival day (for their saint, I think). They deck the church out all fancy, have fireworks and a marching band through the streets, with a bunch of sweet stalls and that kind of thing.
For swimming and snorkelling, there are plenty of places where the water's really good. But again we found that some places were spoiled by overcrowding. There are lots of boat trips that visit certain bays around the island and drop you off for a swim -- these'll be the most crowded places.
I hope all this doesn't sound too negative -- on the whole I had a pretty good time there. But do set your expectations at the right level: it's really not an unspoilt paradise island or anything like that.
posted by chrismear at 12:57 PM on July 5, 2005
I visited Malta along time ago for family reasons, the beaches are not sandy but rather rocky. The Blue Grotto was a very popular tourist attraction. I remember there was one beach that had sand but was very touristy, summer can get quite humid.
St Pauls Bay is a nice area and trendy cafes and the nightlife scene line the streets of St Julians.
Religion is a big part of the Maltese culture, like chrismear said Saint days are celebrated and the church policy on visiting was strict ie no thongs and beach clothing.
I loved Valletta, the capital and the ancient city of Mdina, but a must see are the Dingli cliffs.
The food was good especially the freshly baked bread. Don't forget their sister island Gozo, take the ferry. I'd love to go back but probalby would spend about 5 days/nights.
posted by Chimp at 4:21 PM on July 5, 2005
St Pauls Bay is a nice area and trendy cafes and the nightlife scene line the streets of St Julians.
Religion is a big part of the Maltese culture, like chrismear said Saint days are celebrated and the church policy on visiting was strict ie no thongs and beach clothing.
I loved Valletta, the capital and the ancient city of Mdina, but a must see are the Dingli cliffs.
The food was good especially the freshly baked bread. Don't forget their sister island Gozo, take the ferry. I'd love to go back but probalby would spend about 5 days/nights.
posted by Chimp at 4:21 PM on July 5, 2005
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posted by coach_mcguirk at 10:47 AM on July 5, 2005