It has been a whole year since Steve and I left Chicago for our Great Fekspedition, and it has gone by so fast. I can’t believe that this is the final European destination we visited before moving out of our flat in London! Malta is an island in the Mediterranean (just south of Italy), and it is an up-and-coming tourist destination in Europe. Any place with abundant sunshine and crystal clear water is a winner in my book, and Malta was exactly that.
We had three days to explore the island and we packed in as much as possible during our time! We rented a car (they drive on the left-hand side of the road – Steve is getting pretty good at it!) and drove to all of the hot spots. On the first day, we went to Gozo, which is a small island just north of Malta with a ton of history and amazing views. Some of the architecture here dates back to 1500 BC (although obviously has been rebuilt and restored many times), but it was like walking through a different world. Gozo is also the site of the Azure Window – a rock arch that fell down in a storm in early 2017. We still went to the site of it on the coast and it was pretty nice!
Day 2 was crammed with as much sightseeing as possible. We made stops at the Dingli Cliffs, Blue Grotto, St. Peter’s Pool, Marsaxlokk, Birgu, and Valletta. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it was! Malta is filled with so much amazing history and scenery – we wanted to make sure we saw it all. We were definitely exhausted by the end of the day.
On our last day, we checked out Mdina in the morning, which is an ancient walled city that dates back more than 4000 years – that’s old!
After we toured Mdina, we rented a boat for the afternoon; the boat was definitely the highlight of the weekend. We were able to cruise around the coast at our leisure, and anchor at some incredibly beautiful spots, including the Blue Lagoon. Such a great experience! If I could go back, I would rent the boat for the whole day instead of only half!
Moving out of our flat in London is feeling bittersweet. We had the absolute best year, capped off with an amazing weekend in Malta, but it is time to pack up and head back to Chicago. Not too fast, though… this post comes to you from down under – stay tuned for Aussie posts to come!
The Great Fekspedition 