Malta: A Postcard from Carrie and Jim
Hello from Malta!
Our time in Malta has come to an end. Five weeks went by fast. I'm sad to leave the sun, cliff views, and constantly feeling like I'm in the middle of a GoT set, but we are excited to head off to safari with my mom and Kel! Plus, I’m ready for a change of scenery. I’m glad we took five weeks to explore the island, but we definitely didn’t need more than that.
Here are some of the highlights of our stay in St Julián, Malta.
Wish you were here XOXO ❤️,
Carrie and Jim
Interesting things to note:
For a small island (9 x 17 miles), cell service is surprisingly spotty.
It’s quite barren. Having been to quite a few tropical-esque islands, I wasn’t expecting such a barren landscape. Not much green and a lot of trash. They have a somewhat complicated way of managing trash. There are no trash bins. Depending on the day of the week, you put out a certain type of trash: MWF is organics and compostables, TF is recycling, MWS is trash. Not too complicated once you get the hang of it, but you never know if the truck will be by at 7AM or at 2PM. This means there is a chance you could miss the truck if it comes especially early or you're stuck with bags of trash lining the streets and sidewalks most of the day if the truck comes later. Don’t leave your trash out the night before, or there is a good chance the rats, cats, or mice will get into it! Then there are the people that just throw their trash over the nearest fence or out their car window. Jim had an up-close and personal visit with a rat on one of our morning walks. Fortunately, no rats or Jims were harmed in the encounter. Unfortunately, it takes away from the beauty of the place.
SUP and Snorkeling from Mistra Bay
I've been saying for a while now that my life goal is to be able to do a headstand on a paddleboard. Funny thing is, I've never actually been on a paddleboard. There are so many good bays and lagoons to go paddleboarding in Malta that I figured now was a good chance to start learning. I found an Airbnb experience that included paddleboarding lessons, the paddleboard, lunch, and snorkeling with a max of four people. Other than our fantastic cliff hikes, this was definitely my favorite activity on this trip. We launched from Mistra Bay and paddled for about an hour over to St. Paul's Island where we snorkeled for an hour. And… I didn’t even fall off the paddleboard once! I know, falling in isn't a big deal, but I was expecting to spend more time falling and getting back up. All that time in the gym has me strong, lol. Core strength of steel!
Valletta—AKA Game of Thrones filming locations
The capital city of Valletta is perched on top of a cliff and it is surprisingly hilly! It was cool to wander around the city and see filming locations from the first season of Game of Thrones.
We took the bus from our Airbnb into Valletta, but it was long and the bus was crowded. The bus system will get you pretty much anywhere on the island, but it will take awhile! What is twenty minutes by car, is at least an hour by bus, sometimes as much as two hours since they are never ever on time. Although, it's pretty inexpensive to take the bus: a trip only cost €2 or less. The buses may be an option for getting around the city, but for adventuring farther away, an Uber ride (or Bolt as it’s called here) makes more sense—or even renting a Goto Car. Goto is an app that allows you to rent cars one way or round-trip for pretty reasonable rates. It made more sense than getting a Bolt or taxi when we had multiple stops or were going to be on the outskirts of the island hiking and to Gozo.
Blue Grotto
Sometimes we do the totally touristy thing and a boat ride along the cliffs and into the caves near the Blue Grotto is a touristy thing totally worth doing. Sure, it's €8 each and only 25 minutes long, but to be on a small boat close enough to touch that blue and bluer and more bluerer water was worth it!
Camino Island and Snorkeling the Blue Lagoon
OK, sometimes we do a lot of touristy things. This was another completely touristy thing to do. We are here at the beginning of the off-season and we’ve been told that summer is over, kids are in school, and most of the tourists are gone. If that is the case, I can’t imagine how busy the Blue Lagoon at Camino Island is in high season.
It is absolutely beautiful but crowded. And we all know how much Carrie hates a crowd! I'm glad we did it and I can see why it was so crowded. You have the blue blue water reflecting off the white white sand underneath and rock coral that houses octopus and lots of fun fish. They aren’t the colorful fish you find in the Caribbean, but so fun to swim with and follow around! And the 80+ degree water doesn’t hurt!
We took the boat ride with Mermaid Cruises. We picked them because they had excellent reviews, it was cheap (€15/person), a small boat so it could go inside the caves, and they cap the number of people on the boat to twenty. The trip was pleasant, but the boat was pretty slow. If I did it again, I'd probably skip the opportunity to go inside the caves and take a bigger faster boat. I get bored sitting on a boat even when the scenery is spectacular.
So, would we live here? It wounld’t be our first choice. The paddleboarding opportunities are great and the cliff hikes are beautiful, but I think I would miss trees too much. And, when it comes down to it, the water just doesn’t sing to me like the mountains do. If you are a water person though, you would have lots to do.