Malta
Malta: Filming location for Game of Thrones, home to the Popeye film set, and dotted with walled cities. This was where Killian and I went on our 2018 summer holidays.
When we first got to the island, we stayed in Floriana, which is just outside of Valletta. Valetta is one of the old, walled cities in Malta, and was one of my favourite places to visit on this trip. There were so many little lizards running around, the area was really nice and clean, and everything was within easy walking distance.
On our second day, we took a bus out to the centre of the island to check out Mdina, another, older walled city.
While we were there, we actually left the walls to walk to a nearby town to see St. Paul's Catacombs. The streets and buildings were still decorated from the public holiday the previous day (they really seem to go all out for their holidays!).
The catacombs actually came with admission to a museum, grotto, and WWII shelters. It was really interesting to see so much history underground. The catacombs were much larger than I expected, with stone actually carved to cradle the heads. For anyone who isn't as morbidly curious as me, I apologise, but that was really interesting!
On our third day, we took the ferry out to the smaller island of Gozo.
My favourite part o the island, actually, was the cittadella. We'd walked past it during the daytime, but it seemed to have an admission fee and we weren't bothered enough to go right away. We were meant to be on the small island for the entire week, and we had run out of things to do within a few hours, so we chose to pace ourselves!
But after dinner, we wandered around and found that it was actually open. It was 11pm, and only a few people were around. Some parts of it weren't open (such as the museum), but I honestly think the nighttime experience was way better (and so much cooler, in regards to temperature).
Everything was really well lit, except for the very back where the ruins were. It was a bit too dark and too late to go exploring that, so we stuck to the front.
Although we had booked a week on the small island, we actually had a bunch of problems with our AirBnb there. The main problem being no toilet to use! After a 12 hour customer service experience, we finally got the go ahead to switch our accommodation. Being so last minute, there weren't too many affordable options, so we chose to go back to the main island were there was a lot more to do anyway. We spent the rest of the week in Gzira!
There was a seasonal fair set up by the water, along with an entire village built for the local ducks. Literally just houses built for them on the water with food as well!
Since there still isn't a whole lot to do on the main island, and we'd had a heck of a time on Gozo, we wanted nothing more than to actually get to enjoy the sun and relax a little. We booked a couple of days at an infinity pool on the top of a hotel and enjoyed some cocktails & pizza poolside. This was definitely the part of the trip that felt most like a holiday
I was talking to Killian about how I have wanted to try a fish pedicure for a really long time, and then we walked past a place that did them!!!!! I was so excited, I had to take advantage while were there. I chose the shortest treatment time - 10 minutes. The closest thing I can think to compare the feeling to would be really tiny, rapid carbonation, but on your feet. It tickled, but it was such a unique sensation!And let me tell you, my feet felt soooo smooth and soft after!
Malta was such a different place than anywhere else I've visited. I enjoyed the cheap, fresh sushi and sunshine, but was glad to get home to my little green island after.